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DRANE BROTHERS CLAUDE THOMPSON

1886 - 1942

IVAN WALKER

1888 – 1917

COLIN COOPER

1897 – 1965

Booklet Number 70

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©Saint Andrew’s Uniting Church Corner Ann and Creek Streets

Brisbane QLD 4000 2015. Revised 2018

Go to http://heritage.saintandrews.org.au/

for an online copy of this booklet and more pictures

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Drane Family of Drane Street, Clayfield

The three Drane brothers who enlisted to serve in the Australian

Imperial Force during World War 1 were sons of Priscilla (née

Griffith) and John William Constantine Drane who lived at

Munumburrah in Drane Street, Clayfield. Their mother was Mrs

Priscilla Drane (known as Prissie), daughter of the Rev Edward

Griffith and sister of Sir Samuel Griffith. She died in 1900 at the

early age of 40 years leaving her husband John and their five

sons, the eldest then 16 years old and the youngest only three.

Their father John William Constantine Drane, also the child of a

Congregational minister, (the Rev JWC Drane), was an accountant

in the Education Department. He died in 1928.

The Drane family home

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Of the five sons, two did not go to the war. The eldest, William Griffith Drane was born in 1884, became a Staff Surveyor and died as a result of a poisoned leg at Roma Hospital in August 1919; and at the same time, another brother, Edward Dudley Drane, an Accountant, died in Brisbane.

The stories of the three soldier sons are recorded in this booklet.

Their names are on the honour board from the Wharf Street

Congregational Church where their grandfather was Minister

from 1860 till 1889.

Gunner Claude Thompson Drane

Claude Thompson Drane was born at Clayfield, Brisbane on 14 March 1886, the second son of John William Constantine Drane and Priscilla née Griffith. He attended Brisbane Grammar School from February 1900 to April 1902. His mother died during his first year there when he was 14 years of age. He had left home by the year 1908 to work as a Clerk at the Darling Downs town of Jondaryan.

John William Constantine Drane, father of soldiers, Claude, Ivan and Colin

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On 29 August 1914, shortly after the outbreak of war, he enlisted at Sydney, New South Wales to serve overseas in the Australian Imperial Force.

He was a tall man, six feet (182.9 cm) in height, 28 years and five months old, of dark complexion, brown eyes and hair. His father was named next-of-kin and his religious denomination was Congregational. He was allotted to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade with service number 648 and rank, Gunner. His unit embarked from Sydney on board HMAT Argyllshire on 18 October 1914, bound for Alexandria, Egypt.

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Based at Mex Camp, Alexandria, Gunner Claude Drane trained with other Australian soldiers also encountering a completely different culture for the first time. He served at Gallipoli from the landing in April 1915 but was admitted to hospitals in Alexandria at Zaherich Camp and Mustapha Camp towards the end of the year 1915 with a contused foot. He was discharged from the Australian Convalescent Depot for normal duties on 29 November 1915.

Field Artillery brigades, formed for infantry divisions, were equipped with 18 pounder field guns.

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Gunner Drane’s unit proceeded to France via Marseilles at the beginning of April 1916 and was transferred to 3rd Field Artillery Brigade on 16 June. This artillery brigade and others supported the Australian Army Corps on the battlefields of France and Belgium, in all Somme and Passchendaele engagements and at Messines. At the end of November 1917, Claude Drane was admitted to hospital in Le Havre, France where he remained for a total period of 36 days. He was transferred to England then returned to Australia per RMS Kenilworth Castle and discharged on 1 July 1918, being unfit for active service because of his injured foot. Claude Thompson Drane married Elva Agnes Slingsby Steel on 3 October 1923 at Targinnie near Gladstone. The couple had one child and were engaged in fruit farming at Targinnie in 1925. They later moved to Rabaul on the island of New Britain where Claude Drane was Manager of the Vacuum Oil Company. The Territory of New Guinea was then an Australian administered territory and many Australian civilians from all walks of life - administration officers, school teachers, planters, missionaries and traders settled there; and many, including Claude Drane had seen prior service in World War 1. Prior to the occupation of the Territory of New Guinea by the Japanese in World War 2 when Rabaul became a major Japanese base, Australian women and children were evacuated, but the men had to remain at their places of employment in the New Guinea islands. When the Japanese invaded the town, Claude Drane went to secure the company’s books but was not seen again. Civilians and hundreds of Australian soldiers were captured by the Japanese.

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Many were executed and many lost their lives on the SS Montevideo Maru which was torpedoed by a United States submarine on the morning of Wednesday 1 July 1942. One of these was Claude Thompson Drane aged 56 years. The sinking of this vessel in the South China Sea off the Philippines coast claimed the lives of 1053 Australian troops and civilians who had been interred at Rabaul. It remains Australia’s greatest ever maritime disaster.

The memorial to the Australians killed in the defence of Rabaul and the sinking of the MV

Montevideo Maru, opened on the eastern side of the Australian

War Memorial in Canberra

in November 2012

Mrs Elva Drane (Tip) escaped on MV Neptuna and moved to Sydney and was living in the Sydney suburb of Cremorne in 1943. Mrs Elva Drane died on 1 September 1983 in Sydney. Her student son, Noel Thompson Drane gained the degree of Bachelor of Economics at the University of Sydney in 1951 and later became Professor of Economics at that university and later, Macquarie University.

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Private Ivan Walker Drane Ivan Walker Drane was born at Drane Street, Clayfield, Brisbane on 26 November 1888, the third son of John William Constantine and Priscilla Drane. His mother died when he was only 11 years old. He attended Brisbane Grammar School in 1904 and later the Central Technical College where he gained qualification in wool classing. He left home to work at Carrer woolshed at Richmond in North Queensland. On 31 January 1916 Ivan Drane enlisted to serve overseas in the Australian Imperial Force during World War 1. Given service number 5322, and allotted to reinforcements for 25th Battalion, Private Drane embarked from Brisbane on board HMAT Itonus A50 on 8 August 1916. The ship arrived at Plymouth, England on 18 October and the troops camped at Folkstone for training in preparation for active service on the Western Front. They crossed to Étaples, France where they joined their unit in mid-December 1916. At this time, the 25th Australian Infantry Battalion acted in a supportive role in the Second Battle of Bullecourt, a scene of mud and fog. Sick with trench fever, Private Drane spent time in hospital and the Number 11 Convalescent Depot at Buchy, France from June till August 1917. He rejoined his battalion as it moved north to take an important part in the 2nd Division’s first wave at the Battle of Menin Road in Belgium. For the 25th Battalion it was a victory but it cost the lives of many, including Ivan Walker Drane. He was killed on 20 September 1917 and buried at Westhoek Ridge near Ypres, a small cemetery containing the graves of 16 soldiers from Australia and six from the United Kingdom.

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In Memory of Private IVAN WALKER DRANE

5322, 25th Bn., Australian Infantry, A.I.F.

who died age 28 on 20 September 1917

Son of John William Constantine Drane and Priscilla Drane, of Dept. of Public Instruction, Brisbane, Queensland.

Born at Clayfield, Queensland. Remembered with honour HOOGE CRATER CEMETERY

Private Ivan Walker Drane, one of three brothers in his family to serve in World War I, lost his life at the Battle of the Menin Road in Belgium in 1917. His grave is at Hooge Crater Cemetery where almost 6000 soldiers are buried. After the Armistice the graves from Westhoek and other small cemeteries were brought in to Hooge Crater Cemetery where 5916 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War are commemorated. This cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

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Captain Colin Cooper Drane MC

The fifth son of Mr and Mrs JWC Drane was Colin Cooper Drane, born on 17 August 1897 at the Drane Street home in Clayfield.

This photograph shows the grave of I W Drane, 25th Battalion, AIF. At the foot of the tombstone are these words, “Loyal unto death” and the message of remembrance from Saint Andrew’s Brisbane, placed there on 29 June 2015.

He attended Brisbane Grammar School in 1911 and 1912 and was a member of the Queen-sland Lacrosse Team in 1914. His father signed a consent form to allow him to enlist in Brisbane on 6 August 1915 in the Australian Imperial Force to serve beyond the limits of the Commonwealth in World War 1. Then aged 18 years he was given service number 2741, the

rank of Private and allotted to reinforcements for the 15th Infantry Battalion. He embarked soon afterwards from Sydney on board HMAT Ayrshire A33, bound for Egypt thence Gallipoli where he joined his unit on 13 November.

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The evacuation took place a month later and he disembarked at Alexandria on Christmas Day 1915. During the month of January 1916, Private Drane spent time in hospital at Ismailia, Moascar. His casualty form records ‘ict legs’.1 He rejoined his battalion at the end of January in preparation for service in France with the British Expeditionary Force. His unit proceeded from Alexandria to Marseilles in June. He suffered a gunshot wound in his back in August and rejoined the 15th Battalion at Étaples in September. Colin Cooper Drane was chosen for a course of instruction for a commission in November 1916. He studied at Balliol College Oxford and was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 March 1917 and returned to action in the field with his 15th Battalion in France. He was in hospital in London with laryngitis during March 1918.

1. Inflamed connective tissue 2. Citation in London Gazette, 30 July 1919, page 9800

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during operations east of Jeancourt, north-west of St Quentin on 18 September 1918 he was awarded the Military Cross. “His platoon was in the first wave of the at-tack and he led them over difficult country which was heavily wired, with great skill and daring. Military Cross

At one point, at the head of his platoon he rushed an enemy post, capturing the garrison of 20 men and two machine guns. Throughout the day his courage, energy and initiative were invaluable to his company commander.”2

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He was promoted to the rank of Captain on 5 November 1918. After the Armistice Captain Drane took leave in England and rejoined his battalion in France on 21 December 1918. He returned to Australia on board the troopship Commonwealth on 8 June and his appointment was terminated on 6 August 1919.

Colin Drane returned to his fruit farm at Yarwun and married

Alma Florence Bryant on 7 April 1921. He enlisted at Mount

Larcom for military service during the Second World War1 and he

died at Yeppara, Quilpie, Western Queensland on 20 July 1965,

aged 67 years. Mrs Alma Drane died in Brisbane on 21 April

1971.

1 Service No Q212923. Military records ‘not yet examined’ by National Archives of Australia. Access costly.

The grave of Colin Drane at Quilpie

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References National Archives of Australia, World War 1 military records Wharf Street Congregational Church Year Books 1909 – 1920, Saint Andrew’s Uniting Church Archives, Brisbane Bean C E W, Anzac to Amiens, Penguin Books, Melbourne, 2014 Cowley, Donald C, Untiring Zeal, Toowong, 1993, not published London Gazette, 30 July 1919 Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, 20 November 1919 Archives, Brisbane Grammar School, The Golden Book McKenna, Kate, Brothers Anzac Day Reunion Clayfield Hallway, City North News, Quest Newspapers, Brisbane, 19 April 2012 The Brisbane Courier, 3 May 1928, page 17; 27 October 1923, page 6 The Queenslander, Brisbane, 11 August 1883, page 25 Townsville Daily Bulletin, 9 May 1914, page 9 Warwick Daily News, 14 August 1919, page 4 Western Star and Roma Advertiser, Toowoomba, 27 August 1919, page 2 Queensland Register of Births, Deaths, Marriages Australian War Memorial, Roll of Honour, Embarkation Rolls Australian Electoral Rolls, 1908 – 1980 Commonwealth War Graves Commission Macquarie University Council Minutes, North Ryde, 22 June 1911 Nominal Roll of Civilians on Montevideo Maru, 1 July 1942

Compiled by Noel E Adsett, Brisbane, October 2015. Revised 2018

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