Ancestor Details
Name of Ancestor: Francis Joseph Beauvais
Ancestor's date of birth: 01/05/1878
Ancestor's date of death: Detail not provided
Cause of Death: Detail not provided
Service Number: 569
Colony or State of enlistment: VIC, Place of Enlistment: Detail not provided
Unit: Victorian Imperial Bushmen
Rank attained in Boer War: SGT, Date Effective: Detail not available
Highest Rank attained (if served after war): PTE, Date Effective: 18/08/1914
Murray Page: 273
Contingent: Fourth Victorian
Ship: Victoria, Date of Sailing: 01/05/1900
Memorial details: Detail not provided
Decorations: Queen and King's South Africa Medals with clasps, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Personal Characteristics: Height: 1.73 m, Weight: 74 kg (1914)
Reasons to go and fight: Detail not provided
Details of service in war: May 1900 - June 1901 in Rhodesia, West Transvaal, Cape Colony including relief of Philipstown (11 February 1901), capture of Boer guns at Read's Drift (23 February), and capture of Boer patrol near Doornkloof (1 March 1901), some troops performed garrison duty in Rhodesia.
Service and life after the Boer War: Returned to Australia 12 July 1901 on Orient. Served in the Artillery. In 1914 was single, working a a chauffeur/mechanic and living at 'Pioneer Cottage', Portland, Victoria. Served in the 1st AIF in WW1, enlisting 18 August 1914, served in the 2nd, 6th and 7th Field Ambulances in France, at one point ptomotet LCPL, but reduced to PTE on the same day. Returned to Australia 26 September 1917.
Descendant Details
Name of Descendant: Marie Bennetts OAM, Worongary QLD 4213
Relationship to Ancestor: Great-cousin on my great grandmother's side
