Henry Stephen Wrathall's sister was the donor of three windows installed in St. Paul's Church, Geelong. Two of the windows were in memory of her parents, Stephen and Adeline Wrathall, formerly of Virginia Street, Geelong and a third window, placed as a tribute to her only brother Harry, killed in action in France in 1917. The windows were dedicated by the Rev. Dr. Griffiths at the morning service on 24 August, 1941.
Henry Stephen Wrathall was educated at Geelong College (1895-1900), where he spent six years in the Cadet Corps under the supervision of Captain C. Norman Morrison. He was married to Annie Eva Frances Wrathall (nee Sutton) when he enlisted 2 February 1915. He left Melbourne with 8 Battalion Reinforcements aboard HMAT Marakini on 15 September 1915, his 42nd birthday. Time on the Gallipoli Peninsula was followed by a period in Egypt where he suffered severe uticaria (hives) that required hospitalisation. He proceeded to France where he transferred to 60 Battalion but continued to suffer bouts of illness including malaria, bronchitis and laryngitis before he was killed in action at Broodseinde Ridge whileleading a daylight patrol into No-Man's Land from near Polygon Wood.A machine gun opened fire on his party.The corporal and three men with him returned to the relative safety of the trenches after determining that their leader was dead. During the night they attempted to recover the body but were unsuccessful. Lieutenant Wrathall was remembered on the Ypres Menin Gate Memorial among the more than 50 000 names of men who have no known graves.
References & Acknowledgements
AWM Roll of Honour; NAA: B2455, Wrathall HS; Argus, 25 August 1941, p.3; James Affleck, Geelong Collegians at the Great War, (2007), pp.122-23.
With thanks to Ray Brown for images of the window
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