The ancestral MAWBEY family in the United Kingdom has a distinguished record of military service.
According to British MAWBEY family genealogist, Henry MAWBEY (1834-1921), a ROBERT MAUTEBY was a Crusader in about 1250 and his effigy as a Knight Templar is on the lid of a stone coffin in the church of MAWTBY in NORFOLK, England.
MAWBEY FAMILY AUSTRALIA WAR SERVICE
BOER WAR, SOUTH AFRICA
John Thomas II (Jack) Mawbey was in Sydney trying to enlist with the Australian forces for this campaign at the time when his mother and three siblings were brutally murdered at Breelong.
His regiment was disbanded so he did not go and was staying with his aunt and uncle at their home in Anne Street, Surry Hills when he was told the tragic news.
WORLD WAR I (1914-18)
Four members of the MAWBEY family enlisted in the army during World War I. Brothers Garnett and Albert, the youngest sons of John Thomas and Sarah MAWBEY of NSW and William Nathan and Nathan, sons of Nathaniel (Nathan) MAWBEY of Tasmania. All four were privates.
GARNET LINDSAY MAWBEY
Garnet MAWBEY was the second youngest son of John Thomas and Sarah Mawbey, and was aged 4 when his mother and three siblings were murdered.
In February 1916, at age 19, he enlisted in the Australian Infantry Force (AIF) at Casula, south-west of Sydney near Liverpool.
He stated he was single, a farmer, and that his religious denomination was Church of England.
Assigned to the 7th Light Horse Regiment, 21st Reinforcement, he returned to Australia in June 1919.
Garnet Mawbey is one of the soldiers in a photo of the 7th Light Horse regiment resting in the sand near Asluj (then southern Palestine now Israel) before the Battle of Beersheba on the AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL WEBSITE.
The highlight of this battle was the charge of the 4th Light Horse regiment across the desert which resulted in them securing the wells and victory.
On Wednesday 24 March 2010, Garnet's daughter Shirley identified her father in this photo as the one on the far right at the back, lying down on his right side with his legs cut off by the camera.
Albert enlisted at Dubbo stating that he was a farmer, single and Church of England.
He joined the 2nd Battalion, 19th Reinforcement and served on the Western Front and was mentioned in despatches.
He was 18 when he enlisted on 19 February 1917.
* SEE NATHAN MAWBEY WAR RECORD Australian War Memorial, Canberra
WILLIAM NATHAN MAWBEY
He was 20 when he enlisted on 15 March 1915.
* SEE WILLIAM NATHAN MAWBEY WAR RECORD Australian War Memorial, Canberra