George Frederick Braund (1866 - 1915)

Lieutenant Colonel George Frederick Braund VD MLA was born on 13th July 1866 at Bideford, Devon, England. He was the second child and eldest son of Frederick Braund, a draper, and Ellen Doidge.^[1]

When he was fifteen years of age, his family migrated to New South Wales, settling in the New England Tableland city of Armidale.

He was a keen sportsman, representing New South Wales in 1888 in Rugby Union. In 1889, when his father bought out Moore and Company, storekeepers in Armidale, George began working there as an accountant, becoming managing director on his father's death in 1899.

Braund worked in and for his community from a young man, as a member of the Farmers and Settlers Association; a member of the public school board; honorary secretary of the Armidale Pastoral and Agricultural Society; honorary treasurer of the Free Trade League; and director of the New England Building Society. He was the president of Armidale Chamber of Commerce in 1904 and a magistrate in Armidale for many years. Braund was commissioned in 1893 in the Armidale company of the 4th Australian Infantry Regiment, seeing this as an extension of his service to his community; remaining integrally involved when his regiment merged into the Commonwealth Military Forces in 1901 and was appointed commanding officer, on promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, of the 13th Infantry Battalion in July 1914; decorated for twenty years' voluntary leadership through the awarding of the Volunteer Officer's Decoration.

Braund was elected to represent Armidale in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly on 6th December 1913.^[2]

Braund's values? Theosophist, teetotaller, non-smoker, vegetarian, almost obsessive about physical fitness, high work ethic, integrity, community-minded, conservative.

On 30th January 1895, George married Lalla Robina Blythe in St Matthew's Church of England (Anglican Church), Drayton, Queensland.^[3] They would have two sons and two daughters:

• Frederick Sidney George (1896-1963)
• Ellen J (1897-97)
• Arthur Geoffrey (1898-1978)
• Phyllis Robina (1899-1985) married William Dumbleton in 1940 at Armidale
  

  George Braund is an Anzac who served in World War One.

Upon outbreak of The Great War, without hesitation Braund accepted an appointment to raise and train the 2nd Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, as its commanding officer.^[4] He was the first member of an Australian parliament to enlist in the war.

The battalion was raised within a fortnight of the declaration of war in August 1914 and embarked for Egypt just two months later, on HMAT A23 Suffolk on the on the 18th of October, 1914. The battalion took part in the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli on 25th April 1915 as part of the second and third waves, led capably by Lieutenant Colonel George Braund.

However, just nine nights later, on 4th May, whilst making his way to brigade headquarters after midnight, he was accidentally shot dead by a sentry; confusion having arisen over the customary challenge.^[5] He was one of only two serving Australian members of parliament to die in the Great War. George Braund was buried in the Beach Cemetery, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey, and his name is located at panel 31 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.^[6] He was posthumously Mentioned in Despatches. In a fitting tribute to their father, both sons Frederick and Arthur, enlisted after he was killed, serving together in the same unit and both returning home at the end of the war.

A commemmorative plaque to Braund and another member of parliament, Ted , was unveiled at Parliament House, Sydney, in November 1915

Sources

1. ↑ UK FreeBMD Birth Index Sep qtr 1866, vol 5b, page 478
2. ↑ New South Wales Legislative Assembly; accessed 21 Jun 2018
3. ↑ Queensland Marriage Index #C553/1895
4. ↑ Australian War Memorial nominal roll: George Braund; accessed 21 Jun 2018
5. ↑ Australian War Memorial unit record: 2nd Australian Infantry Battalion; accessed 21 Jun 2018
6. ↑ Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour: George Frederick Braund; accessed 21 Jun 2018

See also

• McIntyre, Darryl. Braund, George Frederick (1866–1915). Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1979; accessed online 21 Jun 2018.
• Wikipedia:_George_Braund; accessed 21 Jun 2018.
• Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 06 August 2023), memorial page for Lieutenant Colonel George Frederick Braund (13 Jul 1866–4 May 1915), Find a Grave Memorial ID Find A Grave: Memorial #56395042, citing Beach Cemetery, Gallipoli, Çanakkale, Türkiye; Maintained by Digger (contributor 50072026).
• LIEUTENANT COLONEL GEORGE FREDERICK BRAUND ©2023 Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
• George Frederick BRAUND from the AIF PROJECT website first accessed online on the 6th of August, 2023.
• KILLED IN ACTION from the Singleton Argus (NSW : 1880 - 1954) of Saturday 15 May 1915, Page 5. first accessed on TROVE on the 6th of August, 2023 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/80168730?