Jacob Alexander LINKLATER
Jacob Linklater was born on 27 March 1871 in Melbourne, Victoria. His parents were David and Agnes (née Allen) Linklater. He attended Scotch in 1886.
Jacob was a boot salesman when he enlisted on 16 July 1915 at Melbourne. He served in the 21st Battalion with the rank of Private. His Regimental Number was 3859.
Jacob died on 14 October 1916 at Ypres, Belgium. He was 45 years of age.
Service record
Alex Linklater was allocated as a reinforcement to the 21st Battalion, which he joined in France on 4 August 1916, more than a year after enlisting. He was wounded on 14 October, apparently in a communication trench as the battalion went forward. He died of his wounds that day.
His Red Cross Wounded and Missing file contains various eyewitness accounts. Two men described him as ‘oldish’, and several concurred that soon after being wounded by a shell (one says it was a ‘rum-jar’, a powerful trench mortar bomb), he had died on the stretcher taking him back to help. One man who had helped buried him wrote that Alex had a decent burial (see below).
Jacob Linklater is buried in the Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, Zillebeke, Belgium.
Photographs and Documents:
From Alex Linklater’s Red Cross Wounded and Missing file
Sources:
- Australian War Memorial – Roll of Honour and Red Cross Wounded and Missing file
- Mishura Scotch Database. The school’s Archivist, Paul Mishura, identified Eustace as a Scotch War death in 2009. His name was added to the Memorial Hall Honour Roll in 2015.
- National Archives of Australia – B2455, LINKLATER ALEXANDER
- The AIF Project - https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=177229
