Allan Payne

PAYNE, Allan- SPC- – – 1902-1909

DoB:- – 1892, Melbourne, VIC

Father:- – George Payne, Jeweller, 104 Sturt Street, Ballarat VIC

Mother:- – Nora, nee Fitzgerald

Service No:- 268

Rank:- – Private, later Corporal

Unit:- – 8th Battalion

Allan Payne signed up for service on 24 August 1914, almost as soon as war was declared. He was 21 years and 11 months old, five feet, nine and a half inches tall, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair. He was working as a jeweller, with his father George, on Sturt Street in Ballarat, and had also had two and a half years’ experience in the Naval and School Cadets.

Allan Payne left Australia aboard the Benalla on 19 October 1914, travelling to Egypt where he underwent further training in preparation for action at Gallipoli. He was hospitalised in Egypt for over two weeks with a severe abscess in his leg. He recovered enough to proceed on 5 April from Alexandria to Gallipoli aboard the Clan McGilivray.

In August 1915, Private Payne was suffering from dysentery and was invalided away from Anzac Cove back to Egypt for treatment and convalescence. Finally, by November he was able to march in to camp at Maadi, a district in the south of Cairo. He was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal at Serapeum, before proceeding from Egypt to Marseilles on 26 May 1916. While in France he was further promoted to Corporal.

On 24 July 1916, Corporal Payne suffered a gunshot wound to his shoulder and was transferred to hospital in England. Despite this wound being noted as -‘mild’, it was serious enough to prevent Payne’s being returned to the front. Indeed, he was returned to Australia on 13 February 1917 aboard the Ulysses for -‘a change’ for three months. While back in Australia he was discharged from the AIF on 24 May 1917, as being medically unfit for active service overseas.

Upon his return to Australia, Allan moved back to Ballarat. He married Lucy Veronica (date unknown). It seems that Lucy was a musician, like Allan, as the electoral rolls from 1931 to 1954 reveal that the couple lived for their entire married lives at 104 Dawson Street, Ballarat, and they both nominated their profession as -‘musician’.

Allan Payne died at the age of 65 years in Ballarat, in January 1959. He was buried at the New Ballarat Cemetery. Lucy outlived her husband, dying in February 1972 aged 75, and was buried in the same plot. The College could not discover if Allan and Lucy had children.