WW1 100 years on - Ewart Rosebury Vernon Pond

Name	Ewart Rosebury Vernon Pond
Address	Church Road. Cottages, Preston
Date of Birth Place	21 Apr 1894 Poxwell
Date of Death Place	31/05/1916  Sea between Scotland and Norway
Family Info	Only son of Charles Edward and Louisa Pond. His father was an engine driver and carpenter on a farm and they lived in Poxwell. Vernon had three elder sisters. Eveline b. 1888, Agnes b.1890, Florence b.1892
Military Information: Killed May 1916 Stoker 1st Class H.M.S. "Warrior." Royal Navy Service Number K/17317 Remembered on Plymouth Naval Memorial. The last missing ship from the Battle of Jutland was found in the North Sea 100 years after it was sunk in combat with Germany. HMS Warrior was discovered 90 yards under the sea in 2016 after it was abandoned due to the heavy damage it took from enemy shelling. The Battle of Jutland is regarded as the only major naval battle of the First World War and involved 100,000 men and 250 ships, with almost 9,000 sailors killed on both sides during the 36-hour conflict. According to a letter written by the Captain Vincent Barkly Molteno, the ship came under fire from nine German ships for 17-and-a-half minutes before it retired from battle.  The surviving crew of 743 were transferred to HMS Engadine, who also tried to tow HMS Warrior back to Britain.

Further Information:

Before the war he was working on a farm in Poxwell and lived with his parents.

His sister Florence married a Doncaster-born Lance Corporal from the 9^th Australian Light Horse regiment called Arthur Hallam on 24 August 1916 at St Osmund’s church. 

He was listed as based at Monte Video Camp in Chickerell. He was discharged from the military on 21st September 1919. They moved to Australia.

"On 31 May 1915 a command depot was set up at Monte Video House in Chickerell, some two miles from Weymouth. The local newspaper The Southern Times wrote: They are set down in a very pleasant place at Monte Video which is to be the base for the whole of the Australian, NZ and Cyprus contingents in this country, and the men who 'have been used to a thousand miles to  stroll in' (as they say) appreciate the great expanse of country and the sweeping landscape & seascape views which their camp commands. 

The depot was the joint Australian and New Zealand depot until the NZ depot opened at Hornchurch in Essex in April 1916. Weymouth then became the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) Command Depot No.2 which accommodated those men not expected to be fit for duty within six months, therefore, most of the Diggers repatriated as a result of wounds or sickness passed through Weymouth. During the years 1915-1919 over 120,000 Australian and New Zealand troops passed through Weymouth. In Spring & Summer, Weymouth Esplanade would be full of Anzac soldiers in wheelchairs, being wheeled along by their more able mates. 

The first contingent of 200 wounded men arrived in the first week of June 1915, and two weeks later a group of local ladies organised a cream tea for the newcomers, followed by a concert party 'The Frolics' at the camp. So began the close connection that was to grow between the soldiers and the villagers of Chickerell".

You can read more about the history of the ANZACs in Weymouth by visiting this website:

http://weymouthanzacs.moonfruit.com/the-camps/4575540279