Registered birth 27 Mar 1884 Book 3 p266 in Cambeltown Library, Adelaide.
Of Carrington, Adelaide, SA, Australia 1912
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The Advertiser, Adelaide, SA : Saturday 24 August 1918
CHATFIELD.-Killed in action, August 1, 10th Battalion, loving husband of Edith Chatfield (nee Kearns), one of God's bravest and best, aged 31. -Inserted by his loving wife and children.
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The Advertiser, Adelaide, SA : Wednesday 28 August 1918
DIED ON ACTIVE SERVICE
CHATFIELD - Killed in action on 1st August, Private A. G. CHATFIELD, 9th to 82nd Battalion, loving husband of Edith CHATFIELD, nee Kearns, loving father of Arthur and Ruth, aged 31. One of God's noblest and best.
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3783 Pte Alfred George CHATFIELD, 32nd Battalion, of Hackney, SA. A horse driver before enlisting on 7 August 1916, he embarked from Adelaide on HMAT Commonwealth on 21 September 1916 with the 9th Reinforcements. He was hit by a shell and killed in action on 1 August 1918, on the Bray-Corbie Road opposite Morlancourt, France, while serving with 6 Platoon, B Company. He was 34 years old. N.B. Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, was killed three weeks later just after 11 a.m. on April 21st, 1918 at or near the same spot.
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First World War Embarkation Roll - Alfred George Chatfield
Service number: 3783
Rank: Private
Roll title: 32 Infantry Battalion - 1 to 12 Reinforcements (November 1915 - December 1916)
Conflict: First World War, 1914-1918
Date of embarkation: 21 September 1916
Place of embarkation: Adelaide
Ship embarked on: HMAT Commonwealth
Ship number: A73
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Alfred George CHATFIELD
Regimental number 3783
Place of birth Palm Place, Hackney, South Australia
School Parkside School, South Australia
Religion Church of England
Occupation Driver
Address Carrington Street, South Australia
Marital status Married
Age at embarkation 32
Next of kin Wife, Mrs Edith Blanche CHATFIELD, 3 Royal Terrace, Carrington Street, Adelaide, South Australia
Enlistment date 7 August 1916
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll 7 August 1916
Rank on enlistment Private
Unit name 32nd Battalion, 9th Reinforcement
Embarkation details Unit embarked from Adelaide, South Australia, on board HMAT A73 Commonwealth on 21 September 1916
Rank from Nominal Roll Private
Unit from Nominal Roll 32nd Battalion
Fate Killed in Action 1 August 1918
Place of death or wounding Bray Corbie Road, France
Date of death 1 August 1918
Age at death 34.6
Age at death from cemetery records 34
Place of burial No known grave
Commemoration details Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France
Villers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens. The Memorial stands on the high ground ('Hill 104') behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.
The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is approached through the Military Cemetery, at the end of which is an open grass lawn which leads into a three-sided court. The two pavilions on the left and right are linked by the north and south walls to the back (east) wall, from which rises the focal point of the Memorial, a 105 foot tall tower, of fine ashlar. A staircase leads to an observation platform, 64 feet above the ground, from which further staircases lead to an observation room. This room contains a circular stone tablet with bronze pointers indicating the Somme villages whose names have become synonymous with battles of the Great War; other battle fields in France and Belgium in which Australians fought; and far beyond, Gallipoli and Canberra.
On the three walls, which are faced with Portland stone, are the names of 10,885 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave. The 'blocking course' above them bears the names of the Australian Battle Honours.
After the war an appeal in Australia raised £22,700, of which £12,500 came from Victorian school children, with the request that the majority of the funds be used to build a new school in Villers-Bretonneux. The boys' school opened in May 1927, and contains an inscription stating that the school was the gift of Victorian schoolchildren, twelve hundred of whose fathers are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux cemetery, with the names of many more recorded on the Memorial. Villers-Bretonneux is now twinned with Robinvale, Victoria, which has in its main square a memorial to the links between the two towns.
Panel number, Roll of Honour,
Australian War Memorial 120
Miscellaneous information from cemetery records:
Parents: Frederick and Elizabeth CHATFIELD, Glen Osmond Road, Eastwood, South Australia
Other details:
War service: Western Front
Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
