William Wailes served as 3952, Private, 23rd Infantry and was 23 years of age when killed in action at Lagnicourt, France on 20 March, 1917.
His military career was unexceptional – perhaps one or two more run-ins with officialdom than the norm – but he was unusual in that he was one of five brothers from the district that enlisted.
The family’s contribution to the war effort prompted a special article in The Argus of 31 July, 1915 (below). They had properties in both Dundas-street, Preston and Epping where the family patriarch John Henry managed Studley Farm on behalf of the Hon. Edward Miller, M.L.A. John (junior) was 28 when he enlisted and reached the rank of Lance Corporal, Albert was 25, and Frederick was 19 when he joined up and by the time of William’s death had already returned with a gunshot wound to the arm which saw him was invalided out of the A.I.F. a couple of months later.
The youngest son, Horace, was noted as having been accepted for service in The Argus report when he was just 15, but his parents refused permission for to enlist until his eighteenth birthday. He ultimately embarked in February, 1918.
“FIVE SONS ENLIST”
“The five sons of Mr and Mrs J. H. Wailes, of Dundas Street, Preston, have enlisted, and four of them – John, Bert, William, and Fred – are in camp. One of these boys was rejected three times at the barracks and once at the Town Hall, but when he made a fifth application the doctor yielded lo his persistency. The fifth son, Horace, who is only 18 years of age, passed the test without being challenged, and is eager to go to the war He, however, has not received his parents’ consent further than the promise that he may go later if the war continues”.
Of the surviving brothers, “Bert” Wailes (for many years the Ford Motor Co, agent in Whittlesea) died there in 1960 at 71 years; Horace in Preston in 1965 at 65 years; Frederick in Dandenong, 1969, aged 73; and John in Windsor in 1974 at 88 years.
See Wailes Family Photos held in the Yarra Plenty Regional Library Collection
