Can you help us identify George?

George Edward Bonney was born on August 23, 1876 in Unley, South Australia. He was the second youngest child of William Lambourne and Eliza Johanna (nee Powell) Bonney’s eleven children.

His siblings were:

George grew up in Unley, South Australia and attended Parkside Primary School. Unfortunately, his father passed away when George was nine years old. He began working at 13 at the Government Printing Office. He later became a printer’s machinist where it was reported:

He married Florence Mabel Connor on January 24, 1900, in Adelaide, South Australia and they had three children: Percival Harold (1896–1979), Thelma Edris (1900–1972) and Stanley George (1905-1966). George was active in the local community. He was a prominent member of the Richmond Democratic Club, serving as secretary and president at various times. He also had taken a great interest in the Labor Party, working hard for them for many years.

Even though he was 39 years old and had three children, George enlisted on 1 July 1915 at Keswick, South Australia. He was assigned to the newly formed 32nd Battalion, A Company. George’s future son-in-law Gordon Mills (143) enlisted on the same day and was also part of the 32nd Battalion. Gordon was wounded in action at Fromelles. He married George’s daughter Thelma in 1920 at St Paul’s church, Adelaide.

The 32nd embarked from Adelaide, South Australia on 18 November 1915 aboard HMAT A2 Geelong, headed for Egypt. They were ‘properly’ farewelled:

After arriving in Suez on 14 December 1915 they moved to the El Ferdan camp, just before Christmas. A month later they marched to Ismalia, then to the large camp at Tel El Kabir for February and most of March. During their time in Egypt the 32nd did have had the honour of being inspected by H.R.H. Prince of Wales and they greeted him with “enthusiastic cheers”.

The next stops were at Duntroon Plateau and Ferry Post until the end of May, training and guarding the Suez Canal. Their last posting in Egypt was a few weeks at Moascar.

George was obviously not overly enamoured with his Egyptian experience, writing his family:

The call to support the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front came in mid-June. They left from Alexandria on the ship Transylvania on 17 June 1916 arriving at Marseilles, France on 23 June 1916. They then were put on trains for the two-day trip to Steenbecque, near the Belgian border. Their route took them to a station just out of Paris, within sight of the Eiffel Tower, then through Bologne and Calais, with a view of the Channel before marching to their camp at Morbecque, about 30 kilometres from Fleurbaix.

George was moved to the front on 14 July and was into the trenches for the first time on 16 July, a year after he had enlisted. On the 17th they were reconnoitring the trenches and cutting passages through the wires, preparing for an attack, but it was delayed due to the weather. Two days later they made their move. The Australian 8th Brigade, which included the 32nd Battalion, were to cross about 100 metres of No-Man’s-Land and assault the German trenches on the left flank of the Allied attack.

Being on the extreme left flank made their job made even more difficult, as, not only did they have to protect themselves from the front, but they also had to block off the Germans on their left while advancing in order to prevent the Germans from coming around behind them. All were in position by 5.45 PM and the charge over the parapet began at 5.53 PM. George’s A Company was in the first of the waves to go and, according to a letter one of his (unnamed) mates sent to George’s wife.

As brave as he was, George was one of the first killed, near the parapet.

The 32nd were successful in their initial assaults and were in control of the German’s 1st line system by 6.30 PM. Fighting continued through the night, but they were so far advanced that they were getting shelled by both sides and there was machine gun fire from behind and from the emplacement at Delangre Farm. Also, given the advances, their rear trench had been left almost empty, which then enabled the Germans on their flanks to be in a position to surround the soldiers.

When they were forced to retreat, they had to fight their way back to their own lines. What was left of the 32nd had finally withdrawn by 7.30 AM on the 20th. The initial head count was devastating – 71 killed, 375 wounded and 219 missing, including George. 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 amount of bones, torn uniforms and Australian kit still on the battlefield.

The final impact was that 227 soldiers of the 32nd Battalion were killed or died from wounds sustained at the battle and of this 177 were unidentified, including George.

A second soldier, Lance Corporal M. Brown (53) supported that George had been killed as he went over the parapet:

Both the soldier who wrote to George’s wife and Corporal Brown seemed to have actually been with George when he died, but several more “secondhand” reports state that George was killed by a shell.

Private C. Haines’ (102) February 1917:

While how he was killed may not be certain, all of these witness statements do say that George was buried in a cemetery near the battlefield, even mentioning he had a cross for his grave. As he was killed near the Australian lines, it is easy to believe that his body would have been recovered. There also a handwritten mention of “Buried 4971(?)” in his AIF file, but there are no other details records to support that he was, in fact, buried by his mates.

Over 100 years later, George remains “missing”.

George was fondly remembered by his family and friends throughout the years. Multiple memorial notices appeared in local newspapers in the years following his death. He and Gordon had obviously become friends, as Gordon’s memorial notice in 1917 reads:

George is commemorated at:

As of 2023, 41 of the 176 originally unidentified soldiers from the 32nd have been confirmed to be in the German mass grave at Pheasant Wood that was found in 2008. These soldiers have now been given a proper burial and recognition.

There are a further 77 soldiers of the 250 that were in the grave who are as yet unidentified. One of them could be George.