Jerome Devos - Can You Help to Identify him?

Jerome Anselme Cyrille Edouard Charles De Vos was born on 27th October 1885 at 19 Wollestraat, Bruges, Belgium. His parents were Oscar Ferdinand De Vos and Esther Victoire Hermans, but his father died when Jerome was just 10. He had an elder brother, Maurice (born 1880), and a sister, Blanche (born 1883).

While he was born in Belgium, Jerome spent time in England, and he had relatives there. His enlistment papers also state that he was a “British Subject”. Having grown up on the shores of the English Channel, Jerome went to sea and in 1904 was serving as an apprentice seaman on the ship Castle Rock.

In the years before 1915, Jerome had found his way to Australia and was living in 22 Belgrave St, Manly, New South Wales and working at the Hotel Steyne. He stated his occupation as being a groom on his enlistment papers and one of his AIF mates described him as having a “nuggety build”.

Jerome enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at Warwick Farm on 3 September 1915.

The war had already impacted his family and he could not provide the address of his mother back in Belgium as they had become displaced by the war. He instead asked for all correspondence to be directed to the Davis family (35 East Esplanade, Manly), with whom he had been living, in the hope that they would be able to make contact with his friends in London and eventually with his family in Belgium.

Jerome was assigned to the 13th reinforcements of the 1st Infantry Battalion. After a short period of training, they left Australia on 20 December 1915. When they arrived in Egypt, there were major reorganizations underway as a result of the losses at Gallipoli and the large number of new soldiers arriving. In February 1916, Jerome was reassigned to the newly created 54th Battalion, B Company.

Jerome’s military training continued in Egypt, but in late March 1916 he was briefly hospitalised for heat stroke, likely brought about by the hot desert conditions suffered during a rigorous march from Tel el Kebir to Ferry Post on the Suez Canal. He was discharged about three weeks later.

The call to the Western Front came on 20 June and the 982 soldiers of the 54th left Egypt on the H.T. Caledonian to join with the British Expeditionary Force. They landed in Marseilles after a 10-day trip via Malta and then had a three-day train trip to Thiennes, about 25 kilometers from Jerome’s home country of Belgium.

According to AIF Intelligence reports (AWM War Diaries), by 2 July the Battalion was billeted in barns, stables and private houses for a week of training. This now included use of gas masks and exposure to the effects of the artillery shelling. It was hoped that these tests would “inspire the men with great confidence”.

On 10 July they were moved to Sailly sur la Lys and on the 11th they were into the trenches in Fleurbaix. The health and spirit of the troops was reported as good. After a few days getting exposed to the trenches, they moved back to billets in Bac-St-Maur.

Jerome’s Commanding Officer, Major Roy Harrison, a veteran of Gallipoli had written home a few days before the battle:

An attack was planned on the 17th, so they went back into the trenches. However, the attack was delayed due to the weather and they were relieved at the front by the 53rd Battalion. The weather soon improved and Jerome returned to the front trenches by 2:00 PM on 19 July, in readiness for the attack on the Germans.

The assault began at 5:50 PM with Jerome’s B Company in the first wave of soldiers. They were under heavy artillery, machine gun and rifle fire, but were able to advance rapidly and they occupied the German trenches by 6:00 PM. Some of the advanced trenches were just water filled ditches.

As later documented by Private James Thorpe, 4321, from Orange NSW, Jerome and his mate Private George Clapperton, 4166, did not make it very far. Both men were killed before reaching the German barbed wire.

Fighting and shelling continued throughout the night. With heavy losses and the German counterattacks, the Australians were eventually forced to retreat. The 54th were pulled all the way back to Bac-St-Maur by 7:30 AM on the 20th.

Private Jerome Devos was initially listed as missing in action from the night of the battle and – more than a year later – it was eventually determined that he had been killed in action on the evening of 19-20 July 1916. He was 30 years of age when he died.

Even though Jerome was not far from the Australian lines when he was killed, given all the confusion from the battle, his body was not recovered by the Australians.

As noted earlier, Jerome did not know his mother’s address at the time of his enlistment, but he did list a friend, H. Davis of 35 East Esplanade, Manly. The Army contacted Mr. Davis and advised him of Jerome’s fate, but there are no further records of communications.

It took some years to finalise Jerome’s estate and the sole beneficiary in his will was Albert Sydney Charles Faulkner of 107 Hoe Street, Walthamstow East, England. Possibly a friend from seafaring days, Albert was not a relative and there are no further records in Jerome’s files.

The Army spent many years after the war unsuccessfully searching for Jerome’s next of kin to be able to distribute his medals, but this effort was finally noted as “untraceable”. Many, many years after the battle, a connection was finally established to Jerome’s family. According to the now de-commissioned Discovering Anzac’s website, “Only 80 years later did his family discover his fate and his medals were released to his surviving nephew.”

In relation to the possibility of donating DNA to help identify if Jerome was buried in the mass grave by the Germans, one of Jerome’s family connections has come forward.

Research by family and the FAA team indicate that a Y DNA line no longer exists, but it is a slight possibility that a Mt DNA line may exist in Canada, with any children of Laure and Marguerite De Clercq.

Jerome is commemorated at VC Corner at the Australian Cemetery and Memorial at Fromelles, but his body remains unidentified to this day. As Jerome could be one of the unidentified soldiers, we would like to hear from you.