Eustace Delano Fishbourne died of wounds on this day in 1917
Eustace was born in West Kensington on 23 July 1893. He was the only son of Lieut. Col. Joseph Fishbourne, Royal Army Medical Corp., a retired doctor (born in Ireland) and of Edith (née Brind) Fishbourne of Westbourne Park Villas, London.
At the 1901 Census his father, mother, Eustace and a live in domestic servant, were residing at 59 White Lodge, Crawford Hill, Kent.
Eustace was educated first at Allen House Prep School, Guildford and then for two years at King’s School Canterbury. His father, Joseph, died in November 1909.
On 7 April 1910 at age 16, Eustace emigrated to Australia travelling from Liverpool on the S.S.Afric.
Once in Western Australia, he reportedly attended Cranbrook School for a period.
Eustace went on to became a farmer and horse breeder at Blackboy Hill in Western Australia. Blackboy Hill in turn became a major camp for training troops with the outbreak of the war.
Eustace successfully attested, joined the Australian Imperial Force on 28 March 1916 having been previously rejected no fewer than five times owing to 'defective eyesight'.
After four months of training, that August he headed for England via Freemantle on board HMAT ‘Miltiades’ arriving in Plymouth the following month. He was drafted into A Company, 34th Battalion that November.
Speaking both French and German, Eustace was used as one of the six battalion scouts.
On the night of 7 February while in the line at Houplines near Armentieres, Eustace was sent out to a listening post in a shell hole halfway across no man's land. He was wounded in the stomach by stray machine gun fire at around 10pm that evening and taken by stretcher to the 10th Field Ambulance Dressing Station. Initially talkative, he slipped into unconsciousness and died a short time later, Eustace was 23 years old.
Eustace Fishbourne is remembered on Western Australian War Memorial at Perth and in the Roll of Honour at King's School Canterbury.
He is buried in Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, Armentieres.
Pte Eustace Delano Fishbourne, 34th Bn. Australian Infantry