Possible further entry.

Bloomfield, Charles Murray

Key Address : Eltham RSL Board

Rank and Unit : Private, 6th Battalion Infantry Embarked Private, 6th Infantry

10 to 12 Reinforcements (September-November 1915)

Embarked : HMAT Ceramic

Ship Number : A40

Date of Embarkation : 23 November, 1915

Place of Embarkation : Melbourne

Service Number : 3686 Enlisted : 10/09/1915 At :

Born At : Essendon Educated At : Princes Hill State School, Carlton

Date of Death : 20/11/1916 Aged : 21

Place of Death : (of wounds), St. John's Ambulance Hospital, Etaples, France

Buried At : Etaples Military Cemetery, Nord Pas de Calais, France

Occupation : Clerk

Marital Status : Single Religion : C. of E.

Next of Parents John Thomas Rothwell and Catherine Julian Bloomfield (nee Lyon)

Kin/Family :

Eyewitnesses :

Notes : Bloomfield is included on a list of 133 names of residents from the Shire of Eltham on display at the Eltham R.S.L. - just what the source of list was remains unknown, as is Bloomfield's connection to the district if in fact it ever existed.

He gave his father Thomas in Kensington as next of kin. He was in Loch Street, Coburg by the time medals and the Memorial Scroll and Plaque were distributed, and nominated Essendon as the district his late son was most closely associated with.

Bloomfield was taken on strength of the 6th Battalion on 22 February, 1916 and disembarked at Marseilles on 4 April.

Nothing further is recorded of him until he suffered gunshot wounds to both thighs at Etaples on 31 October. He was treated at 36 Casualty Clearing Station and transferred to 16 Ambulance Train before being admitted to a St John's Ambulance Brigade Hospital where he died some 17 days later.

There appeared to be perhaps just the slightest hint in a report of a function held at Panton Hill in December, 1916 to entertain 150 wounded soldiers which has "Private Bloomfield" thanking the organisers on behalf of those entertained, but no indication as to whether he was from the Eltham district or just one of the attendees.

There is no other reference to the name in the Evelyn Observer and it seems likely that the R.S.L. Roll may have simply been collated from the various newspaper reports that appeared without further investigation as to their actual background.

This soldier at the function appears to be Charles Alfred Bloomfield from Carlton who returned wounded in June, 1916. Charles Murray was in France, his brother Walter James had already been killed in Egypt.

It is also strange that Charles' brother, 1075, Walter James also served, in his case with the 8 Light Horse - there is no mention of him on the R.S.L. Board.

He was Killed In Action at Romani on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt on 9 August 1916 after serving with 2 Australian Commonwealth Horse (Victoria) during the Boer War. His Attestation reflects Charles' background, born in Essendon and in Pascoe Vale when he volunteered in 1902 for service in South Africa.

Other siblings were Ruby (1885), William (1888) and Irene (1890, all in Essendon) and Frederick (1892, Warrnambool).

There was no reference to the Eltham district in either the serviceman's archive or circular and the reason for his inclusion on the R.S.L. remains unclear.

"IN MEMORY OF THE DEARLY LOVED SON OF MR & MRS BLOOMFIELD OF ESSENDON"