Remembering Humphrey Fackerell
Humphrey Fackerell - (2nd Great-Granduncle) Humphrey Fackerell was born on 5 April 1898 in Murwillumbah, New South Wales. [1] His father, Edward Fackerell, was a prominent businessman in the area, and this was his sixth child but his first child with his new wife, Amy. Humphrey spent his childhood growing up with his half-siblings in the region, and soon two more sons joined the family. [2] Around 1911, his parents separated, and his mother moved him and his two younger brothers to Sydney. [3] Despite the idyllical childhood growing up in the bush and his later teen years in the big city, Humphrey was to exchange it all as a "boy soldier" for the muddy and bloody front line of World War One. Studio Portrait of Humphrey. Photo from Australian War Memorial. In May 1915, the Great War had been raging on for nearly a year. At the time, Humphrey was living in Sydney, working as an apprentice engineer. [4] The news of a German U-boat being responsible for the sink