Three medals; Photograph; Camp Chronicles; Copy of a letter || My granduncle John Hannigan was from Waterford,Ireland. He moved to Australia, where he joined the Army during the WWI, he was part of the C Company 16th Battalion of Western Australia. He fought in Gallipoli, where he died on 12th December 1916. According to medical records he was shot in the chest, but a letter for his sitter, Minnie, he claimed to have been hit by a shell burst. He was buried and his fellow soldiers laid a wreath on his grave bearing the inscription In memory of the bravest and best of the battalion.

Letter to E. Murray (p.4)

My husband's grandfather was a motor mechanic before the war started. He joined the army because of the excitement of having a chance to go to France, and believing that the war was going to be short. When the war started he was sent straight to France where he was stationed in the supply corps from 1914 to 1917. While in France he was involved in the first retreat from Mons in 1914. In 1917 Henry Orford was transferred to the Tank corp in Bovington, Dorset, England. Here he was involved in experiments. An example of an experiment which he was involved in was the once-off experimental vehicle Pedrail land ship which was designed to drive over the trenches. In 1918 he was involved in the last battle of Ypres as part of the 1st Indian cavalry supply corps. After the war he saved his friend Sam Hammerslee from a tank explosion. He left the army in 1920 and he returned to work in his old job. Unfortunately, he was in an accident and lost his leg. He returned to Ireland in 1935. His friend Sam heard of his accident and offered him a new job as the manager of the Travel Goods Unlimited which was set up by the Odlums flour factory in Portarlington, County Laois, Ireland. Henry died in Ireland in 1966. || The items which accompany this story are numerous photographs of tanks taken by Henry Orford while in the tank corp and supply receipts which Henry received during the war. The photographs and the supply receipts were collected from 1914 to 1919. The supply receipts were collected from Ypres and France and the photographs were taken while Henry was stationed at Bovenington, in England.