General News
20 June, 2026
Veterans' Voice: All enduring on the Western Front
Horsham-born soldier Francis Edwin Bradshaw was just 23 when he was killed in action in Belgium after rising from private to Company Sergeant Major.
Francis Edwin Bradshaw was born in Horsham to Pricilla and Francis Bradshaw of Wilson Street.
Francis attended Horsham State School and further education at Horsham Technical School.
His religion was Methodist, and his trade before enlistment was a motor mechanic.
Francis enlisted on July 6, 1915, in Melbourne, and was ranked as a private in the 23rd Battalion, 4th Reinforcement.
On enlistment, Francis was 21 years of age and was single.
He embarked with his unit from Melbourne on board HMAT A20 Hororata on September 27, 1915.
Francis was killed in action on 7th November 1917 in Broodseinde, Belgium, at the age of 23.
His place of burial is Bedford House Cemetery (Plot XI, Row D, Grave No. 47), Zillebeke, Enclosure No 4, Belgium.
Francis Edwin Bradshaw is commemorated on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial on panel 98, as well as in the Horsham Cemetery.
At the time of his death, he was a Company Sergeant Major and had been awarded the Military Medal in 1916 for bravery in the field.
Zillebeke village and most of the commune were in the hands of Commonwealth forces for the greater part of the First World War, but the number of cemeteries in the neighbourhood bears witness to the fierce fighting in the vicinity from 1914 to 1918.
Bedford House, sometimes known as Woodcote House, was the name given by the army to the Chateau Rosendal, a country house in a small, wooded park with moats.
Although it never fell into German hands, the house and the trees were gradually destroyed by shell fire.
It was used by field ambulances and as the headquarters of brigades and other fighting units, and charcoal pits were dug there until October 1917.
In time, the property became largely covered by small cemeteries; five enclosures existed at the date of the Armistice, but the graves from No.1 were then removed to White House Cemetery, St. Jean, and those from No.5 to Aeroplane Cemetery, Ypres.
Enclosure No.4, the largest, was used from June 1916 to February 1918, mostly by the 47th (London) Division.
After the Armistice, it was enlarged when 3,324 graves were brought in from other burial grounds and from the battlefields of the Ypres Salient.
Almost two-thirds of the graves are unidentified in Enclosure No.4.
In all, 5,139 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War are buried or commemorated in the enclosures of Bedford House Cemetery.
3,011 of the burials are unidentified, but special memorials commemorate a number of casualties known or believed to be buried among them.
Other special memorials name casualties buried in other cemeteries whose graves could not be found.
Second World War burials number 69 (3 of which are unidentified).
There are two Germans buried there.
The 23rd Battalion was raised at Broadmeadows, north of Melbourne, in March 1915, to form the third Battalion of the 6th Brigade in the 2nd Division.
After initial training, it left Australia in March and arrived in Egypt, where it would complete its advanced training in June.
The Battalion's arrival was impacted by the torpedoing of the 'Southland' on September 2, 1915, on which B Company of the 23rd Battalion was embarked along with the 21st Battalion and elements of the 6th Brigade Headquarters.
Loss of life in the attack was contained to about 40 personnel.
As part of the 2nd Australian Division, the 6th Brigade landed at Anzac Cove in early September.
The 23rd battalion had arrived too late to take part in the August offensive, so its role was purely defensive.
However, it and the 24th battalion were allocated one of the most dangerous parts of the Anzac front line - Lone Pine.
The fighting here was so dangerous and exhausting that battalions were relieved every day. In addition to combat casualties, disease was a major factor too, with enteric fever/dysentery taking its toll in parallel.
The 23rd manned Lone Pine, alternating with the 24th Battalion, until they left Gallipoli in December 1915.
After extraction from Gallipoli, the 23rd Battalion refitted and reinforced in Egypt before embarking for France in March 1916.
In April, the 23rd and the rest of the 2nd Division were being introduced to trench warfare in ‘The Nursery’ sector near Armentieres.
The battalion was next in the line on April 10, 1916, when it occupied forward trenches of the Armentieres sector in northern France.
This relatively gentle introduction to the Western Front was followed in July by the horrific battles of Pozieres and Mouquet Farm, after which it was estimated that the Battalion lost almost 90 per cent of its original members.
After a short stint in Belgium, the 6th Brigade was back in the Somme for the winter - the most severe in 40 years.
After manning the front line throughout the bleak winter of 1916-17, the 23rd Battalion’s next trial came at the second battle of Bullecourt in May, where it endured heavy casualties.
After the failure of the first attempt to capture the town by troops of the 4th Australian Division, the new attack was heavily rehearsed.
The 23rd Battalion succeeded in capturing all of its objectives and holding them until relieved; however, subject to heavy counterattacks on the first day of the battle, the Battalion suffered its single most costly day of the war, with approximately 100 men killed in action.
In 1917, the 6th Brigade moved north to Belgium, taking part in the Battle of Menin Road in September and in the 3-kilometre advance that captured Broodseinde Ridge in October as part of the Third Battle of Ypres (Battle of Passchendaele).
The 23rd Battalion helped to turn back the German Spring Offensive in Mid-March 1918, aimed at dislocating the French and British line and cutting Pari off from the Channel Ports before the Americans arrived in decisive numbers.
Elements of the 6th and 7th Brigades participated in the battles that would mark the beginning of the end for Germany: Le Hamel, on July 4, the Battle of Amiens on August 8, and the 2nd Division’s spectacular success in capturing Mont St Quentin from August 31 to September 2.
The fighting for Mont St Quentin resulted in the battalion's only Victoria Cross, awarded to Tatura man, Private Robert Mactier, for single-handedly capturing three enemy machine guns in full exposure to enemy fire and killing 15 men, allowing his company to move off the trench and carry out the success of the operation in capturing the village of Mont St Quentin.
Mactier was killed while charging a fourth enemy garrison.
Like many Australian battalions, the 23rd was severely depleted after the travails of the Offensive.
They left the front for the last time on the night of October 5, and were resting when the armistice was declared on 11th November.
The 23rd Battalion disbanded in Belgium on April 30, 1919.