The Soldier's Details

Stan Werrett served in France with 28th Battalion with Regt. No. 7386.  He also sailed on HMT ‘Osmonde’ with 22nd reinforcement that also included Harold Ockerby and Edward Hardey (from 2/4th).    He was discharged on 17 October 1919.

A very young Stan sitting left side at front.

28th Australian Infantry Battalion, 5th Australian Training Battalion.  Photo taken Fovant, Wiltshire, England May 918.

Stan was 17 years old when he enlisted 22nd Reinforcements, 28th Btn.

After arriving in England they temporarily transferred to the 5th Training Battalion and, as they were measles contacts, were put into isolation before returning to their unit to serve in France. Left side of table, front to back: A Werrett (probably 7386 Private (Pte) Herbert Stanley Werrett); 7331 Pte Alfred Edward Morgan; 7259 Pte Clarence Richard Butterfield (Dick) Lamb; 7055 Pte George Edward Evans; 7307 Pte James Leslie Harold Hooper; 7337 Pte Owen Lancelot Oakey (obscured); and 7279 Pte Jim Corney. Right side of table, front to back: 7256 Pte David Harris Ball; 7264 Pte John Henry Allen; 7343 Pte Frederick Thomas Ridgwell; 7378 Pte Ernest Thompson; 7341 Pte Robert Pendlebury; 7366 Pte William Stanley Wacher; 7333 Pte William Robert Newman; and 7352 Pte Alfred Thomas Smith. Pte Ball, a teacher from Greenbushes, WA, prior to enlistment, was killed in action at Mont St Quentin, France, on 2 September 1918. He was aged 38. Pte Smith, a warehouse employee and assistant druggist from Subiaco, WA, prior to enlistment, was killed in action at Lagnicourt, France, on 15 September 1918. He was aged 19.

 

Soldier was listed as missing in action from 11.2.1942 possibly from the Ulu Pandan area.  He DOW at Alexandra Hospital, Singapore on 14 Feb 142 aged 42 years.

 

Above – desperate for news.

 

 

 

Prior to his enlistment in 1940, Stan Werrett was residing in Subiaco and working for the WA Government Railways.

In 1925 Stan Werrett married in Perth to Annie Rouse.

Herbert Stanley Werrett (known as Stan) was born on 3rd Aug 1900 at Roe Street, Perth. His birth wasn’t registered however a birth notice was put in the local newspaper. He had a brother, Leslie Tom Victor Werrett, who was born in 1897 and died of nasal diphtheria in Perth on 8th May 1906. The boys’ mother Margaret had died in 1905 at 56 Aberdeen St from the effects of alcohol. His father Tom ran several businesses (furniture dealer, marine store) and was a keen fisherman and member of the W.A Angling Club. Stan was also a keen fisherman and his love of it has been handed down through the generations.

Stan was living at 57 Albany Street (now highway), Victoria Park when he enlisted in the 28th Battalion AIF WW1 aged 17. He served with 7th Brigade, 22nd reinforcements.

Below:  Stan’s mother Madge Ogilvie died 1905 aged 36 years.

Below:  Ten months later, May 1906 Tom’s brother Leslie Tom Victor Werrett died aged 8 years.

Below:  1919 Tom’s father Tom (Snr) injures himself.  Tom would have been overseas WW1.

 

Below:  Tom Werrett (Snr) died in 1927

 

The story is that the Marriott family from Shenton Park played a big part in his upbringing.

Stan married Annie Singleton (1889-1966) in Subiaco on 24th Oct 1925. Annie was a widow, 11 years older, who had 2 children. Stan and Annie went on to have 3 children Shirley, Herbert Stanley (Stan) and Norman.

Annie Werrett’s mother Mary Singleton died 1936.

 

Annie’s father Thomas Singleton died eight months later in 1937.

Below:  Annie Werrett’s son from her earlier marriage, Gordon Douglas Rouse, died 1938 aged 21 years.

 

 

“Shirley is still alive (about 2017)  aged 91 and remembers her father very well. Shirley recently told me she remembers her father leaving the house to catch a tram into the city to join his battalion. He was walking down the street when he turned and said to the children “ Look after Mum until I get back.”

Shirley remembers her father as very kind and gentle man who would do anything for his children. She vividly remembers the day the telegram boy delivered the telegram informing the family Stan was missing.

Before WW2 Stan worked at several jobs such as shop assistant, porter, brewery hand and labourer. Stan was working for the W.A.G.R , before enlisting in the 2/4th M.G Battalion, loading freight bound for country towns in WA. He was a member of the Australian Workers’ Union and it seems he used to collect the union dues from country members when he was a farm labourer. Unionism has always played a great part in his children and grandchildren’s lives. Stan was also a keen gardener, winning a ‘novice’ prize for chrysanthemum growing from the Subiaco Horticultural Society, of which he was a member. He was a member of the Shenton Park RSL and was also a Freemason of the Grand Lodge of Scotland and attended Lodge St. Andrew. I think he chose the Scottish Lodge because his grandparents were Scottish. I believe life was tough during the Great Depression as Shirley remembers walking barefoot a great distance from Shenton Park to West Perth to get a pair of shoes.

I remember as a child playing around the commemorative clock tower at Subiaco Gardens and knowing that my grandfather’s name was missing from it. The family story was that the Subiaco Council refused to put it on the clock tower because my grandfather wasn’t a ratepayer. Annie, his wife, owned all the property that she had inherited from her parents. A good fight was put up and finally 50 years to the day of Stan’s death his name was inscribed on the clock, albeit out of alphabetical order.”

I hope this is information is helpful and wish to thank you and the other volunteers for the effort put into commemorating the lives of these brave men – Jenny Clegg, Granddaughter of Stan Werrett, September 2017.

See Subiaco War Memorial