WILKINSON, Henry Yetman

WILKINSON, Henry Yetman – A Southern Downs Veteran

CONFLICT : WWI
SERVICE NO : 4914
RANK : Private
UNIT : 9th Battalion
ENLISTMENT DATE : 20/10/1915
AGE : 26
PLACE OF ENLISTMENT : Toowoomba, Queensland
PLACE OF BIRTH : Yetman, New South Wales
RELIGION : Church of England
OCCUPATION : Labourer
DATE OF DEATH : 21/01/1918
PLACE OF BURIAL : Nord Pas de Calais, France

MEMORIALS : Yelarbon War Memorial, Yelarbon Roll of Honour, Goondiwindi War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour

View Veteran’s Service File : WILKINSON, Henry Yetman

NOTES : WILKINSON, Henry Yetman – By Duncan McLean

Henry Yetman Wilkinson, known as Harry, died of wounds at Rouen Hospital in France on 21 January, 1918. He is buried at the Trois Abres Cemetery in Steenwerck, Nord, France. The inscription on his pristine Commonwealth War Graves headstone reads:

4914 Private H.Y. Wilkinson
25th Bn. Australian Inf.
21st January 1918 Age 28
Asleep in his Savior Where Grief is Unknown

Harry was born in Yetman, NSW, to Frederick Wilkinson and Mary Jane Wilkinson (nee Milford), and was given Yetman as his middle name. He was the 2nd eldest of nine children (7 brothers, 1 sister). He went to school at Smithfield, near Texas.

At the time of his enlistment in the First World War, he was single, listed his occupation as labourer, and was living at Opal Vale, Brush Creek, Texas. He was 5 foot 8 inches tall and weighed 160 lbs. (approximately 73kg), with black hair and hazel eyes.

Harry enlisted at Toowoomba on 20th October, 1915 at age 26, and was assigned to the 15th Reinforcements of the 9th Battalion. After travelling to England aboard the Arcadian for training he was transferred to the 25th Battalion in December 1916. Harry was wounded in late March, 1917, near Noreuil, in France, during a major German withdrawal on the Western Front. After recuperating from his injuries in England, he returned to the Battalion in November, 1917.

The 25th Battalion spent that winter near Messines, in Belgium – holding the line in shallow, frozen trenches, preparing for a major spring offensive. Despite this period of relative stalemate, artillery shelling was constant, and Harry received a serious shell wound to the abdomen on 5 January, 1918. He died in hospital just over two weeks later.

Adding to the family’s tragedy, Harry’s personal effects were shipped back to Australia, but never made it, as the ship they were aboard, the SS Barunga, was lost at sea due to enemy action.

Copyright 2026 Deborah C Wheeler and Duncan McLean, Southern Downs Military History

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