Deserters

Lewes Detention Barracks

DESERTERS and MUTINEERS

Lieutenant: Stephen Matthew HARRIS 34th Battalion, A.I.F. School Teacher, Armidale, (To be Dismissed from His Majesty's Service)

Lance Corporal: 1612 "Ted" Edwin Joseph KING. 19th-34th Battalion, A.I.F. Shop Assistant, Sydney, N.S.W. (Charged with Mutiny) 18 months Hard Labour at Goulburn Gaol, N.S.W.

Private: 2524 Albert BAILEY. 34th Battalion, A.I.F. Labourer, Gunnedah, N.S.W. (Deserter)

Private: 1945 Robert BURNS. 36th Battalion AIF. Labourer, Freemantle, Western Australia. (Deserter)

Private: 4888 Robert BURNS. Able Seaman H.M.A.S. Encounter; H.M.A.S. Una (Deserter) and enlisted with the 35th Battalion AIF. Labourer, Walkers Restaurant Newcastle, N.S.W.

Private: 734 Harold John CHAPMAN. 33rd Battalion AIF. (Deserted at Durban, South Africa 1916)

Private: 47 Henry CROOK. 35th Battalion AIF (Deserted at Cape Town, South Africa 1916)

Private: 1638 Ernest William CUMMINS. Electrician, Emmaville, N.S.W. (Deserted from Camp. Australian Light Horse 1915-Deserted at Durban, South Africa 1916 )

Private: 391 James CUNDY. 33rd Battalion AIF. (Deserted at Durban, South Africa 1916)

Private: 62 Roland EDWARDS. Cook, 34th Battalion AIF. West Maitland, N.S.W. (Deserter)

Private: 919 Claude FULMER. 33rd Battalion AIF. (Deserted at Durban, South Africa 1916)

Private: 1650 Jeffery Ernest GREENAWAY. 35th Battalion AIF (Deserted at Cape Town, South Africa 1916)

Private: 58954 Ernest HOWARD. 35th Battalion, A.I.F. Steward, Bankstown, N.S.W. (Deserter Mercantile Marine)

Private: 2333 Cyril Roy HUMBY. 36th-33rd Battalion AIF. (Deserter)

Private: 2781-2921 Edmund Clarence Clement HUNT. Patternmaker, Sydney, N.S.W (Deserter from 18th Battalion) enlisted with the 34th Battalion AIF.

Private: 1723 William LILLEY. 35th Battalion AIF (Deserted at Cape Town, South Africa 1916)

Private: 3677 V W MATHERSON. 36th Battalion (D Company) A.I.F. (Deserter)

Private: 2368 Norman MCLEAN. 34th Battalion, A.I.F. Commercial Traveller, Newcastle, N.S.W. (Deserter)

Private: 2105-59339 Samuel Thomas MILES. 13th-35th Battalion A.I.F. Carpenter, Newcastle, N.S.W. (Deserter)

Private: 1564 Raymond James MOORE. Aka Albert JONES. 33rd Battalion AIF. (The worst of soldiers)

Private: 602 John Alfred RICHARDS. 33rd Battalion AIF. (Deserted at Durban, South Africa 1916)

Private: 2179 Denis "Denny" SHERRY. 36th Battalion (D Company) A.I.F. Aboriginal Labourer, Gladstone, Macleay River via Kempsey. N.S.W. (Deserter; Sentenced to Death)

Private: 1864 George Harold SILBURN. 36th Battalion A.I.F. (Deserter)

Private: 558 Alfred Norman TONKINS. 33rd Battalion AIF. (Deserted at Durban, South Africa 1916)

Private: 220 William Arthur TREAY. 35th Battalion, A.I.F. Labourer, Teralba, N.S.W. (Not Guilty Desertion. Guilty AWL)

Though liable to be executed for mutiny, desertion to the enemy or treachery, the 129 Australians (including 119 deserters) that were sentenced to death during the war (117 in France) were not shot.

The AIF DETENTION BARRACKS

The agreed date for the AIF to take over HMP Lewes and establish the AIF Detention Barrack was 1 November 1917. Prior to that date, a fair amount of work still had to be done. On 18 October, the War Office set the arrangement firmly in place with a letter to AIF Administrative HQ confirming that HM Prison Lewes was to be taken over by the AIF on 1 November 1917. The letter went on to direct the AIF to issue instructions that all Australian soldiers sentenced to detention after that date to be committed thereto." Members of the AIF who were currently under detention and whose sentences expired after 1 December 1917 were to be transferred to Lewes as soon as possible. Although it is not stated in the letter, presumably, AIF prisoners currently undergoing detention in British Army Detention Barracks, and whose sentences expired before 1 December 1917, were to remain in place to complete their sentences. The letter also stated that industrial work for men under sentence would be supplied by the Prison Commissioners. Appended to the letter was list of requirements for the prison to comply with in order to abide by British Army regulations dealing with detention barracks.

The AIF Detention Barrack