Walter Arthur Horace Higman

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HIGMAN, Walter Arthur Horace

Service no: 4512

Place of birth: Orange, 1896

Address: Kia-ora, Wondai, QLD

Occupation: Carpenter

Next of kin: Ann Jane Higman (mother), Kia-ora, Wondai, QLD

Date of enlistment: 4 September 1915

Place of enlistment: Brisbane, QLD

Age at enlistment: 19

Fate: Embarked HMAT A62 Wandilla Brisbane 31 January 1916. Disembarked Alexandria, Egypt 5 March 1916. Appointed Lance Corporal France 9 August 1916. Wounded in action, suffering a gunshot wound to the knee 31 August 1916. Hospitalised Rouen 2 September 1916. Returned to unit 17 October 1916. Promoted to Corporal 27 February 1917. Wounded in action, suffering a gunshot wound to the head Belgium 7 June 1917. Died of wounds 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station, Belgium 8 June 1917.

Date of death: 8 June 1917

Buried: Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension, France, Plot 3, Row C, Grave 245


Walter Arthur Horace Higman was born in Orange in 1896 to Edward Alfred Higman and his wife Ann Jane. He was the youngest of four, with three older sisters.

Walter’s father, Edward, Edward was the brother of Walter Higman, proprietor of the Empire Picture Company in Lords Place. Edward, Ann and their four children later moved from Orange to Wondai in southern Queensland where Ann operated Nurse Higman’s Private Hospital.

Walter enlisted in Brisbane in September 1915, aged 19. He embarked from Brisbane the following January, arriving in Egypt in March. Private Higman fought in France and Belgium. He was wounded in August 1916, suffering a gunshot wound to the knee.

In February 1917 Higman was promoted to Corporal. Four months later, on 7 June he sustained a gunshot wound to the jaw. He died of his wounds the following day; he was 20 years old. Walter’s name appears on Ancient Order of Foresters Orange Roll of Honor.

Corporal Higman’s sister, Naomi, also served during World War I.

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