Can you help find Eddie?

Patrick Edward ‘Eddie” Ryan was born on 13 October 1887 in Bronte, within Sydney’s eastern suburbs. He was the third of John Joseph Ryan and Mary Ann Madden’s eight children:

John Joseph Ryan was an Irish-born labourer who arrived in Australia as an assisted immigrant in 1880 from Tipperary, aged 22, on the Peterborough.

Eddie’s mother came from a long-established Sydney Madden–Stapleton family. His grandmother, Rebecca Mary Stapleton, married Daniel Madden in 1859 and raised a large family in the inner suburbs of Sydney. Many of Eddie’s aunts and uncles — Frances (Kate), Daniel, Charles James, Bernard, John, Thomas, Rebecca Mary, and Louisa Jane — lived in nearby districts, with marriages linking the family to the Sharpe, Lilley, Cosgrove and Madden households. John and Mary were married in 1883. Eddie grew up at 32 Boundary Street, Waverley, a modest working-class home that remained the centre of the Ryan household for decades. The children went to St. Charles Catholic School, Waverley.

Life changed sharply in 1905 when Eddie’s mother Mary Ann died at only 42. Eddie was seventeen. With a house full of siblings still at home, the older ones stepped in to support their father and keep the family together. As he reached adulthood, Eddie worked as a labourer — hard physical work, but steady and familiar. He remained in Waverley, close to his father and siblings, until he enlisted in the AIF in July 1915.

When Eddie enlisted on 15 July 1915 at Liverpool, New South Wales, he was 27 years old, though he listed his age as 26. Like so many men from working-class Sydney households, he had no previous military experience, but the war had been underway for nearly a year and recruitment rallies were running almost daily across the city. Eddie volunteered and was assigned to the 30th Battalion,1st Reinforcements. The 30th Battalion was formed on 1 August 1915 at Liverpool, New South Wales. Training for the new recruits commenced in the Liverpool camp, but in September they moved to the Royal Agricultural Show Grounds in Moore Park, Sydney. There were numerous reports of their activities in the papers.

The Battalion left Sydney for the camps in Egypt aboard HMAT A72 Beltana at 3.30 PM on 9 November 1915. Their trip was uneventful and they disembarked in Egypt on 11 December. Eddie’s first seven weeks were spent at Ferry Post guarding the Suez Canal from any potential threats posed by the Ottoman Army and continuing their training. He was assigned to C Company on 15 February 1916. Training was intense - long marches across the desert, rifle and bayonet work, entrenching and the constant routine of forming a new battalion from men with wildly different backgrounds. February and March were spent at the 40,000 man camp at Tel-el-Kebir, 110 km northeast of Cairo. While there, they were inspected by H.R.H. Prince of Wales.

For much of April and May they were back in Ferry Post, including some time in the front-line trenches there. There were the usual complaints of the heat, water supplies and flies. The Battalion left Egypt for the Western Front on 16 June 1916 on HMAT Hororata, arriving in Marseilles on 23 June. After landing, they were immediately entrained for a 60+ hour train ride to Hazebrouck, 30 km from Fleurbaix. They then were encamped in Morbecque.

Private F.R. Sharp (2154) wrote home about this experience:

The area near Fleurbaix was known as the “Nursery Sector” – a supposedly relatively quiet area where the inexperienced Allied troops could learn the harsh realities of Western Front trench warfare against the Germans. But the quiet times and the training period did not last long. Training now included the use of gas masks and they also would have heard the heavy artillery from the front lines. On 8 July they were headed to the front lines, first to Estaires, 20 km and the next day 11 km to Erquinghem, where they were billeted at Jesus Farm. They got their first ‘taste’ of being in the front lines at 9.00 PM on 10 July.

The overall plan was to use brigades from the Australian Fifth Division to conduct a diversionary assault on the German trenches at Fromelles. The 30th Battalion’s role was to provide support for the attacking 31st and 32nd Battalions by digging trenches and providing carrying parties for supplies and ammunition. They would be called in as reserves if needed for the fighting. The attack was initially planned for 17 July, but it was postponed due to the weather. In his final letter home Charles Albert Woods (2194 30th Bn) summed up the situation he found himself in:

Then, on 19 July, the 29 officers and 927 other ranks of the 30th Battalion were into battle. Zero Hour for advancing from their front-line trenches was to be 5.45 PM, but the Germans knew this attack was coming and were well-prepared. They opened a massive artillery bombardment on the Australians at 5.15 PM, causing chaos and many casualties. The 32nd’s charge over the parapet began at 5.53 PM and the 31st’s at 5.58 PM. There were machine gun emplacements to their left and directly ahead at Delrangre Farm and there was heavy artillery fire in No-Man’s-Land.

While not in the initial rush, the 30th was close behind digging trenches, carrying ammunition and repairing communication trenches all while under fire. While suffering significant losses, the initial assaults were successful and by 6.30 PM the Aussies were in control of the German’s 1st line system (Trench B in the diagram below), which was described as “practically a ditch with from 1 to 2 feet of mud and slush at the bottom”.

Source - AWM4 23/49/12, 32nd Battalion War Diaries, July 1916, page 11

While the 30’s role was to be in support, the commanders on scene made the decision to use them as much-needed fighting reinforcements. A necessary act, but it had consequences as it interfered with the planned flow of supplies. Eddie’s C Company and B Company were the first to be brought in.

By 8.30 PM the Australians’ left flank had come under heavy bombardment with high explosives and shrapnel. Return bombardment support was provided and they were told that “the trenches were to be held at all costs”.

Source - AWM4 23/49/12, 32nd Battalion War Diaries, July 1916, page 12

At 10.10 PM the 30th was ‘formally’ called to provide fighting support. Lieutenant-Colonel Clark of the 30th reported:

Fighting continued through the night. The Australians made a further charge at the main German line beyond Trench B, but they were low on grenades, there was machine-gun fire from behind from the emplacement at Delangre Farm and they were so far advanced that they were getting shelled by both sides. At 4.00 AM the Germans began an attack from the Australian’s left flank, bombing and advancing into Trench A (map). Given the Australian advances that had been made earlier, portions of the rear Trench E had been left almost empty, which then enabled the Germans to be in a position to surround the soldiers. At 5.30 AM the Germans attacked from both flanks in force and with bombing parties. Having only a few grenades left, the only resistance the 31st could offer was with rifles:

By 10.00 AM on the 20th, the Germans had repelled the Australian attack and the 30th Battalion were pulled out of the trenches. The nature of this battle was summed up by Private Jim Cleworth (784) from the 29th:

Initial figures of the impact of the battle on the 30th were 54 killed, 230 wounded and 68 missing, including Eddie. To get some perspective of the battle, when Charles Bean, Australia’s official war historian, attended the battlefield two and half years later, he observed a large quantity of bones, torn uniforms and Australian kit still on the battlefield. The ultimate total was that 120 soldiers of the 30th Battalion were either killed or died from wounds and of this total 80 were missing/unidentified.

When the survivors of the 30th Battalion withdrew late on 20 July 1916, Eddie did not return with them. His name was first listed as ”wounded and missing” and the family were advised of this by cable on 20 August. However, with so many soldiers having been killed, wounded or taken prisoner during the battle, there was much confusion and great difficulty in working out what had happened to each man. Major efforts were undertaken to find the missing soldiers, but often weeks and months passed with no answers, only uncertainty. There was still some hope as to Eddie’s fate from information sent to family by others and from two witness statements taken by the Red Cross:

However, no confirmation of these hopes ever came. Eddie was formally declared as having been Killed in Action on 20 July 1916. His body was never found. Eddie’s father did receive a small parcel of Eddie’s personal effects from the AIF Kit Store in London, offering some small degree of closure for the loss of his son. The package contained a wallet, a letter, a photograph, and a card. Eddie was awarded the 1914-15 Star Medal, the British War Medal, the Victory Medal, a Memorial Plaque and a Memorial Scroll. He is commemerated at the VC Corner Cemetery and Memorial at Fromelles, panel 2, and on the Waverley Soldiers’ War Memorial, where the local community remembers the men of the district who never came home.

He was clearly missed by his family. In1920, they placed an In Memoriam notice in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Eddie’s remains were not recovered; he has no known grave. After the battle, the Germans recovered 250 Australian soldiers and placed them in a burial pit at Pheasant Wood. This grave was discovered in 2008 and since then efforts have been underway to identify these soldiers by DNA testing from family members. As of 2026, 181 of the soldiers have been identified, including 27 of the 80 unidentified soldiers from the 30th Battalion.

We welcome all branches of Eddie’s family to come forward to donate DNA to help with his identification. The Ryan, Madden and Stapleton lines are especially important, along with descendants of his siblings who remained in the Waverley, Randwick, and Granville districts. If you know anything of family contacts, please contact the Fromelles Association. We hope that one day Eddie will be named and honoured with a known grave.

Please visit Fromelles.info to follow the ongoing identification project and Eddie’s story.