John William Gavin

John William Gavin

9th Light Horse Regiment, Australian Infantry Force

Died 9 August 1916 age 25

Private J. Gavin  –  Aus. Ex. Force

John William Gavin was born at 13 St Peter Street, Peterhead on 9 November 1890, son of Grain Merchant John Gavin from Udny and Mary George Cruikshank from Elgin, who had married at Fraserburgh in 1888.  In 1891 the Gavins were at Peter Street, Peterhead, including four month old John William and his two-year-old brother, Thomas R. Ten years on they were at Mill of Leslie, Insch, where father John was working as both miller and farmer; the family had expanded to five boys and three girls. John Gavin later had the mill at Mill of Ennets, within the parish of Kincardine O’Neil, and the children attended school at Tornaveen.

Gavin emigrated to Australia, in about 1910, to work (like George Gordon and William Bews) on the railways. He volunteered for service in 1915. His enlistment papers, signed at Keswick, South Australia on 16 July 1915, show that he was employed at that time as an engine cleaner. He was allocated to the 9th Light Horse Regiment of the Australian Infantry Force (no.1385), and dispatched to the Dardanelles as part of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade. He sailed to Heliopolis in December 1915 at about the time of the Allies’ withdrawal following unsuccessful efforts to capture the Gallipoli peninsula. The regiment proceeded to Serapeum at the end of February 1916 where the 3rd Light Horse as part of the ANZAC Mounted Division participated in the defence of the Suez Canal from the Turks, at a time when the Allies were striving to push the Ottoman army out of the Sinai Peninsula. On 9 August 1916 the 9th Light Horse were engaged in a confrontation with Turkish artillery. In the course of this action John Gavin was first thought to be missing, having been taken prisoner, but it was after confirmed that he had been killed in action. 

On 23 September 1916 the Aberdeen Journal reported: “Official information has been received by Mr John Gavin, 52 Whitehall Place, and late of Mill of Ennets, Torphins, that his son, Trooper J. W. Gavin, Australian Imperial Force, has been killed in action. Trooper Gavin, who was 25 years of age, was for six years engaged on the South Australian Railways. Prior to emigrating to Australia he was employed with the Caledonian Railway Company at Glasgow”.

Mrs Gavin received a memorial scroll and plaque and her son’s effects: an identity disc, wallet, 2 letters, photograph, postcard, writing paper case, musketry book, letter, pipe, badges and handkerchief.

Gavin is buried or commemorated at Kantara War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt, on the east side of the Suez Canal, and is also commemorated on the Aberdeen City Roll of Honour.

Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of births
Censuses 1891 and 1901
National Archives of Australia – Service Record Series B2455 Item 4028560 at http://naa.gov.au
http://alh-research.tripod.com – unit history and War diary for 9 August 1916
http://www.aif.adfa.edu.au – re Anzacs in the Great War
http://www.awm.gov.au
Aberdeen Journal and Aberdeen Weekly Journal 29 September 1916