Lieutenant Albert Campling
20th Battalion
Service number: Commissioned officer
Born: 2 May 1873, Penrith NSW
Died: 14 June 1916, Bois Grenier France
Albert Campling was born in Penrith in 1873, the son of George and Eliza Campling. His father George had been a long serving railway employee. After attending Penrith Superior Public School, Campling studied dentistry. In 1897 he married Mary Flint in Sydney and by the time of his enlistment, they had 4 children. After the outbreak of the Boer War, Campling enlisted with the NSW Imperial Bushmen and served for 12 months before being invalided home in March 1901. Prior to World War 1, he served as a Lieutenant and then Captain with the senior cadets and as a Private with the 2nd Infantry Battalion. He had served as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 38th Infantry Regiment and in December 1914 passed the examination for 1st Lieutenant.
Campling enlisted for overseas service on 18 August 1915 when he was living with his family in Regent Street Kogarah. His detachment left Australia aboard HMAT Argyllshire on 30 September 1915 bound for Egypt and by April he had disembarked in France. The 20th Battalion were holding a section of the Western Front on 14 June 1916 when Campling was wounded. According to a statement by Private Leigh to the Australian Red Cross, Campling and some officers were having a smoke together after lunch in the dining dugout at Bois Grenier. As the group was moving from one dugout to another, a shell exploded near the group. Captain Ferguson was killed and Campling was badly wounded. He died 30 minutes later. Leigh was present when Campling and Ferguson were buried together in the cemetery at Bois Grenier. Leigh finished his report by stating: ‘The men were very keen on Lieutenant Campling, they put a lot of work into his grave’. After his death, Mary Campling named her home ‘Bois Grenier’. Campling’s son George enlisted in
February 1916 and returned to Australia after he was wounded in 1918.
Memorial Details:
- Brewery Orchard Cemetery Bois-Grenier, France
- Honor Roll, Methodist Church, Kogarah
Sources:
- National Archives of Australia Search: B2455 CAMPLING A E
- Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing
- Australian War Memorial First World War Nominal Roll
- Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour
- Penrith City Library Biography files
- Nepean Times(Trove)