Lot 5165

Description

Memorial Plaque WWI, named to Charles Bingham Elwell. Uncirculated.

Together with original packet of issue and accompanying letter from the King; copies of photos of Lt-Cdr Elwell and his grave at Kabakaul (his remains were removed to Rabaul (Bita Paka) War Cemetery in 1919).

Charles Bingham Elwell, born 13Sep1882 at Albrighton, Shropshire, England; in the early 1890s he was a student at the King's School, Parramatta and was the son of the late P.B.Ewell, the Chief Electrical Engineer for Railways in New South Wales; he entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1896; on 30Jun1912 Lt Elwell was serving at R.A.Naval College at Geelong as a skilled instructor on loan from RN; when the AN&MEF was sent to New Guinea he was appointed to the command of the Royal Naval Reservists who went with it; KIA 11Sep1914 with sword in hand and leading the first bayonet charge against the Germans in their own territory during the Battle of Bitapaka - Elwell was the first Naval Officer to lose his life in the campaign; buried at Kabakaul (see above); Mentioned in Despatches dated 11Jan1916.

With extensive research.