James Radford Dredge was from Wallace-street, Preston and appears to have been an uncomplicated soul who just got on with his job – until one night when the daily horrors of war may have become too much for him.
The forty-year old Dredge was a cousin of other servicemen from the inter-related families that paid the ultimate sacrifice (Alfred William Gluyas, Thomas Daniel Donovan, Walter Donovan Glanfield). His father, Joseph, was the secretary of the Preston Methodist Sunday School at the first meeting in 1856 at a time when the family operated a steam-powered flour mill in the district. An uncle, Peter, was the teacher at a Wesleyan School established in the church around the same time.
Undoubtedly the horrors of the war affected many men in many different ways, and perhaps Dredge was no exception.
Dredge is shown on the Australian War Memorial as having died of illness, but perhaps that is a little flattering as to all intents and purposes, he died on 2 January, 1918 at Peronne, France as a result of a late-night drinking session which appears to have involved large quantities of rum of a dubious quality. He was interred at the Tincourt New British Cemetery, France (below)
Link to the history of James Radford Dredge
Link to the history of Alfred William Gluyas
Link to the history of William Donovan Glanfield
