Worboys, Percy

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Percy was born at Ashwell, Hertfordshire, the only son of Charles Thomas and Louisa (nee  Davis) Worboys on 8 September 1891.  He was a pupil at the Merchant Taylors School in Ashwell.

Percy enlisted at Liverpool, a suburb of Sydney, Australia on 18 February 1915 and on 25 June 1915 was embarked for Gallipoli.  He served in the Balkans Theatre of War, at Gallipoli with C Company, 18^th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force, Regimental Number 1015.

On 22 August 1915 he suffered a severe gunshot wound to the chest and shoulders and was evacuated to a military hospital in Reading, England.  During his stay in military hospital he was visited by his mother and father, and met the King and Queen of England when they were visiting the Australian troops.  In November 1916 he was transferred to the 18^th Battalion Australian Postal Corps in England.  He was discharged as unfit for military duty on 8 October 1918 and he returned to Australia.  He survived the war but lived with shrapnel in his chest until his death on 15 May 1952 in Australia.

Percy was awarded the 1914/15 Star, the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the Anzac Medal.

He is commemorated on the St Mary’s Church Ashwell Roll of Honour.

Before enlisting he was a postman and in his spare time a messenger for a ‘drug shop’.

Percy emigrated to Australia on 7 September 1912 and worked on his uncle Joseph’s farm ‘Westwood’, in Orange, New South Wales.  He then moved to Parramatta to live with another relative and took a job as a railway station attendant. He met Frances Fraser in Parramatta at this time.

When he returned to Australia after the War, Frances was waiting and they were married in Woollich, Sydney, Australia in 1919.  They had five children: Margaret, Norma, Joan, Howard and Robert.

Percy and a partner started up a wholesale and importing business –  Sydney Importing Company.  He was a founder member of the Sydney Legacy, a charitable institution, and worked with the Junior Welfare Committee.  He wa also a Justice of the Peace.

He died on 18 May 1952

Events from the pages of the Royston Crow

1915 November Private Percy Worboys wrote a letter to Mr Chote the headmaster which was published in the paper. Percy Worboys served in the Peninsula war in Turkey receiving wounds severe enough to be sent home. The letter goes on to criticise the Arabs for their ‘heartless behaviour in the field’ and to express his admiration of the Anzac forces with whom he fought.

Pte Percy Worboys of Australian Infantry severely wounded and still shrapnel in shoulder, 25, son of Mr & Mrs C Worboys, Back St, served in Egypt and Gallipoli.

1915 December Private Percy Worboys served with the Australian contingent in the Peninsular War and was recovering from wounds received in Gallipoli. Fortunately, as reported in November, he was well enough to write a letter about his experiences to the paper.

September 1816 Pte EJ Copping, Australian Infantry, wounded in left hand, at hospital in Epsom. Here he met again Pte P Warboys whom he emigrated with some years ago, both served at Gallipoli where Worboys was badly wounded.

June 1928 Mr Percy C Worboys, Managing Director & Chairman of the Sydney Importing Co Ltd, NSW, Australia, and son of Mr & Mrs Worboys, Ashwell now a Justice of the Peace in his suburb, Hurlstone Park.