John Charles Marshallsea

John Charles Marshallsea was born in 1893, at Corryong, Victoria, to John Adams and Margaret, nee Wilson. John would have four brothers and one sister.

On 2 February 1916, John enlisted in the AIF at Melbourne, Victoria. He was given the service number 2353 and was put on strength with the 16th Reinforcements of the 4th Light Horse.

At the time of enlistment, John was a single, 22-year-old grazier from Cudgewa, Victoria. He was 5 feet 8 inches tall (173  cm) and weighed 140 lbs (63 kg). His complexion was described as medium, his eyes as blue, and his hair as brown. John’s religious denomination was given as Church of England.

John spent the first month of his enlistment at the 7th Light Horse Depot at Seymour, 120 km north of Melbourne. John embarked on HMAT A53 Itria on 18 April, 1916, sailing from Melbourne, Victoria.

A few months after arriving in Alexandria, John was invalided to England on the HT Kanowna with dysentery, being admitted to the No. 3 Australian General Hospital. On 4 November 1916, he was transferred to the Mont Dore Military Hospital at Bournemouth on the south coast of England. John would remain in England, moving between hospitals and convalescent camps until March of 1918, when he proceeded overseas to France to join the 2nd ANZAC Mounted Regiment, 22nd Corps.

On 17 April, John was wounded in action with a gunshot to the knee. The next month would see him in a number of field ambulances, hospitals and convalescent depots while his wound healed. A number of transfers between units, including the 63rd Division, the 13th Light Horse Regiment and the Australian Veterinary Corps, would ultimately find John on leave in the United Kingdom in early January of 1919. A short stint back in France in the first few months of the new year was followed by embarking on the SS Orita in April, arriving safely back on Australia’s shores on 6 August, 1919. He was discharged from the AIF on 26 September, 1919.

For his service during World War 1 he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

While visiting Melbourne in 1925, John encountered city life, as reported in The Argus on 3 December 1925.

“GRAZIER ROBBED ON TRAM

Four pounds in Treasury notes and a cheque book were stolen from the pockets of Mr. John Marshallsea, while he was riding on a cable tram in Bourke street yesterday afternoon. Mr. Marshallsea, who is a grazier, living near Wagga (N.S.W.), was returning from the city to his lodgings at Osborne House, Nicholson street, Fitzroy, when the theft was committed.”

Electoral roll information indicates that John lived in Wagga Wagga. In 1933, he married Thelma Victoria Mack in Wagga. He passed away on 28 March, 1975, at Wagga Wagga, NSW, at the age of 81. Thelma passed away on 20 December, 1990. They were both laid to rest in Wagga Wagga Lawn Cemetery.