The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge. Beneath the main figures, the British lion defeats the German eagle. The initials 'ECP', for the designer Edward Carter Preston appear above the lion's right forepaw. A raised rectangle above the lion's head bears the name 'THOMAS WILLIAM DORMER'. A checker's mark, '25', is impressed between the lion's rear left paw and tail.
The plaque is contained in a circular turned wooden frame. Attached to the top of the frame is a small hand coloured portrait image of Private Dormer. The plaque, frame and photograph appear to have been coated with shellac. Lightweight spring steel 'legs', post dating the original frame, are screwed to the back of the frame allowing it to be supported in a freestanding upright position.
Thomas William Dormer is thought to have been born at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England on 12 August 1896.
He was an errand boy at a brewery when he enlisted at Aylesbury, possibly in 1914 or early 1915, into the 6th (Service) Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. He initially served as a private with the service number 4339. This was later changed to 266685.
The battalion had been raised in September 1914 and was allocated to the 60th Infantry Brigade, 20th (Light) Division. The Division arrived in France in July 1915 and took part in the battle of Loos in that year. In 1916 it fought at Guillemont, Flers-Courcelette, Morval and Le Transloy during the battle of the Somme.
In 1917 it took part in the battle of Messines and then the third Battle of Ypres, in which Thomas Dormer was killed on 22 September, near Polygon Wood. His body was not recovered for burial and his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium.
Members of Dormer's family later emigrated to Australia bringing this commemorative plaque, originally sent to his parents, with them.
Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge.
Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge.
Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge.
Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge.
Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge.
Bronze next of kin plaque. The plaque shows Britannia and a lion together with the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR'. The name of the dead soldier, 'EDWARD DENIS KENDALL', is inscribed in raised
