Leonard Everitt was an Ivanhoe parishioner who was believed to be training for the ministry when he enlisted for active service. He was reportedly the first Heidelberg man to be killed in the First World War and his memorial was the first of more than 80 stained glass commissions that artist William Montgomery would receive during and after the war. The subject, St. Stephen, honoured the young solder as a martyr for God, King and country and was unveiled and dedicated by a former vicar, the Reverend Horace Crotty who travelled from Sydney to conduct the service on Sunday 12 September 1915. The incumbent, the Reverend Sydney Buckley, who later served as an Army Chaplain, forwarded the £27 full payment for the window to Montgomery.
Avenal Leonard Everitt, aged 21, gave his occupation as 'salesman' when he enlisted on 17 August 1914. He joined H Company 6 Battalion and was appointed Company Quartermaster. He was wounded in the landing 'near Dardenelles' and taken aboard a hospital ship where he later died. Initially buried at Browns Dip Cemetery Everitt was re-buried at the Lone Pine Cemetery. It was not until 9 March 1916 that his mother, Mrs. Sarah Everitt, received official word that her son 'died at sea on the 29th April 1915 of wounds received in action at Gallipoli'. This was many months after the unveiling of the window, which remains in place, (with the incorrect date of death).
References & Acknowledgements
AWM Roll of Honour; NAA: B2455, Everitt AL; Church of England Messenger, 21 May 1915, p.1764; 18 June 1915, p.1807; 24 September, 1915, p.1975; Argus, 6 August 1915, p.3; Heidelberger, 18 April 2000: Folio 82, Montgomery ledger, William Montgomery Collection, State Library of Victoria.
