Not Forgotten, 2626 Lance Corporal Norman Henry SPEAKMAN, 43 Battalion AIF, World War 1

Private Norman Speakman, a farmer from Badgerin north of Dowerin, was born in Dambury in Essex, England, the son of Henry Holmstead and Kate Speakman of Dambury and later Maldon, Essex, England
and educated at Framlingham College in Suffolk. Norman Speakman arrived in Australia in 1911 from London, disembarking at Fremantle.

On 29 July 1916 Private Speakman enlisted at Perth in the 43rd Battalion at the age of 26. His unit embarked from Fremantle on board H.M.A.T. A8 Argyllshire on 11 November 1916 and on 5 March 1917
Speakman marched into the 13th Training Battalion Durrington. On 1 May Private Speakman qualified 1st Class at the School of Musketry at Tidworth and showed a fair knowledge of the Lewis Gun. In March
of 1917 Norman Speakman was promoted to Lance Corporal. At the end of November 1917 Norman Speakman proceeded to France via Southampton and was taken on strength with the 43rd Battalion. The 3rd Division was raised in Australia early in 1916. The 43rd Battalion was South Australia’s contribution to the strength of the division. Along with the 41st, 42nd, and 44th Battalions, plus support troops, it formed the 11th Brigade. The battalion embarked in June 1916 and, after landing briefly in Egypt, went on to Britain for further training.

The battalion, including Norman Speakman, arrived on the Western Front in late December. The battalion spent much of 1918 fighting in the Somme valley. On 30 March 1918 Norman Speakman was wounded in action in the jaw and returned to England for treatment and rejoining the unit on 21 July. In July the battalion was part of General Monash’s attack at Hamel. In August and September the battalion helped drive the Germans back to the Hindenburg Line. The 43rd joined the advance that followed the 2nd Division’s victory at Mont St Quentin and it was
during this operation that Temporary Corporal Lawrence Weathers earned the battalion’s only Victoria Cross.

Private Speakman was wounded again in action on 1 September 1918, this time with a gunshot wound to the spine, at which point he was invalided to England, admitted to a military hospital with paraplegia and returned to Australia in 1919 on the Kanowna. Private Speakman died from this wound to the spineon 17 March 1920 in No 8 Australian General Hospital and is buried in Fremantle Cemetery. Thelegatees of his will were his father, Miss Dorrie Lewis and Mr. Percy Elmore Martin.

Private Norman Speakman was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He is commemorated on the Australian War Memorial and in the Church of St John the Baptist in Danbury, Essex, England as well as on the Dowerin and Koorda War Memorials and the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour.