Honouring Australian World War One Personnel
Name - Francis Edward Cowle
Rank - Leadng Stoker
Official Number - 3897
Enlistment Date - June 30th, 1914
Regiment - Royal Australian Navy
AWWOD descendant - Greg Cowle
Service Detail - Francis Edward Cowle was born in Sydney in 1893. He joined the RAN before the commencement of WW1. After training at HMAS Cerberus he was posted to HMAS Una (ex SMS Komet which was a motor yacht captured from the Germans during the AN&MEF campaign in New Guinea September 1914).
After that he was posted as leading stoker on HMAS Huon, a torpedo boat destroyer, for the duration of the war. He was discharged 7/8/19 after travelling all the oceans. He returned safely from the war, married and moved to Coonamble where he died in 1961.
Members thoughts / recollections - I never met Francis as he moved moved away from Sydney when my grandfather (his brother) died before I was born. He was a plasterer and had worked for his father at his plaster factory in their hometown of Rockdale, where they produced detailed ceilings and cornices common to the houses of the era. He also worked on the State Theatre interior, producing the intricate detailed work we still see today.