Absalom Hall was born a t Moreton, Staffordshire o n 7 th April 1895 an d was baptised later that month o n the 28 th at St Mary’s Church, Moreton. He was the second son of the fourteen children born t o Charles and Fa nny Hall. Three o f their children died in infancy . His sc hoo ling over Absalom found work a s a farm labourer . With the coming o f war i n August 1914 Absalom was a n early volunteer into the military when o n 23 rd November 1914 he enlisted a t Nottingham into the Royal Marine Light Infantry. When his basic training was c ompleted, h e was posted to the Ro yal Marine Brigade and then to Gallipoli. He arrived a t Gallipoli an d was wounded o n the 9 th o f May 1915 and died o f thos e wounds on 23rd J une 1915, ag ed 20. He is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, o n the Gallipol i Pen insular in T urkey and o n the Naval Memorial a t Po rtsmouth. His parents were told (by a retur ning soldier) that h e had just started bringing horses ashore from the s hip an d was caught b y cross fire ( and probably hi nde re d b y barbed wire hidden under th e wave s). His older broth er Thom as was killed in action serving with the South W ales Borderers on 22 nd Novem ber 1917.

Absalom H all

Priva te PO/400(S) – Royal Marine Light Infantry Ki l led in Ac tion 26 J une 1915 – a ge d 20 Remem ber ed on the Hel l es Mem orial

Helles Mem oria l

Histor ical In for mation The eight month ca mpai gn in Gallipoli w as fough t by Co mmonw eal th and French force s in an attempt to force Turkey out of the war, to relieve the deadlock of the Western Front in France and Belgium, and to open a s upply route to Russia thr ough the Dardanelles an d the Black Sea. The Allies landed on the peninsula on 25-26 April 1915; the 29th Division at Cape Helles in the south and the Australian and New Zealand Corps north of Gaba T epe on the west coast, an area soon known as Anzac. On 6 August, further landings were made at Suvla, just north of Anzac, and the climax of the ca mpai gn came in early Augus t when simultaneous assa ults were launched on all three fronts. Howeve r, the difficult terrain and stiff Turkish resistance soon led to the stalemate of trench warfare. From the end of August, no furthe r se rious ac tion was foug ht and the lines remained un changed. Th e peni nsula was suc cess ful ly evacuated in Dece mber and ea rl y Janua ry 1916. The Helles Me morial se r ves the dual function of Commonwealth bat tle m emorial fo r the whol e Gallipoli campai gn and p l ace of com me mora tion f or many of those Com m onw eal th servi ce men who di ed the re and have no known grave . The Uni ted Kingdom and Indian force s na med on the memo rial di ed in ope rations throughou t the peninsula, the Australians at Helles. The re are also panels fo r those who di ed or were bu ried at sea in Gallipoli waters. T he me morial bea rs more than 21 ,000 na mes .