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Captain E Lloyd Davies MC - Buckingham Palace   

Award at Buckingham Palace
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Francis Edward DAKIN MSM

DAKIN

Date of birth30 April 1893
PlaceAscot Vale, Victoria, Australia
ParentsFrancis Ferdinand and Lucy (nee Chapman) Dakin. 
Date of death4 September 1930
PlaceAt 3 Avon Court, Olphert Avenue, Vaucluse, New South Wales, Australia
Age37
Scotch Year(s)1910 to 1912

Service record and post-war life

At Scotch, Francis Dakin had been in the first rowing crew in 1912. He was a 22-year-old accountant when he enlisted on 26 April 1916. In August he was made a Corporal and allotted to reinforcements to the 29th Battalion. He embarked for overseas in September 1916, arriving at Plymouth, England in November 1916. On 11 December he was transferred to the 8th Field Artillery Brigade, with which he embarked for France on 30 December as a Gunner. Within a day he went to hospital sick. Two days later, on 6 January, Francis was transferred to the 3rd Field Artillery Brigade. He came out of hospital on 10 January, and four days later joined the 3rd Divisional Ammunition Column.

On 2 August 1917 things looked up: he was promoted to Corporal and transferred to 3rd Division Headquarters. In October 1918 he was made Sergeant. In January 1919 he received the Meritorious Service Medal, for ‘consistent and thorough attention to his duties’ from February to September 1918, when he clearly made a fine contribution to the considerable clerical work associated with the Australians’ military operations in that period (see recommendation below). He left England for Australia on 21 March 1919.

Francis lived in St. Kilda and worked as a manager. By 1930 he had moved to Sydney, where he was a motor accessories general manager. He died of a brain haemorrhage at Vaucluse in 1930. He had married Mary Hamilton (d. 1968) in 1916, and they had one daughter, Mary.

Photographs and Documents:

dakinFE

Francis Dakin is here identified as stroke of the 1912 Crew. Fred McIntosh would be killed at Polygon Wood in September 1917, the same month in which Lloyd Davies would be severely wounded in the same area.

dakinFE

Francis Dakin is third from the left in this photograph of the 1912 Henley Four rowing crew. Geoff Robertson would die of wounds in Egypt in 1916.

Sources:

  1. Australian War Memorial – Honours and Awards
  2. Mishura Scotch Database
  3. National Archives of Australia – B2455, DAKIN F E
  4. The AIF Project - https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=71101

Page last updated: 11 November 2015