Infantry, Camel Corps and Australian Light Horse

It has taken over 22 years to successfully conclude this search.

I received the British War Medal awarded to 607 LCPL Sydney John Hopkins in 2004. Sydney served in the 15th Battalion, AIF, the Camel Corps and the 11th Light Horse Regiment. He was 30 years old when he enlisted. He made it to Gallipoli but the vast majority of his service record is about the treatment he received for contracting VD and his time in and out of hospital.

After WWI Sydney was an itinerant worker in Queensland showing up in the Ipswich and Central Queensland electoral rolls. He enlisted for WWII and spent some time in the 15 Garrison Battalion before being medically discharged. This link is to his WWII service record.

On Sydney's WWI attestation pagers he gave his NOK as his father, Mr J Hopkins at an address in West Ham, East London,. This information was then amended in 1917 after his father died and his NOK became his sister, Ms L Hopkins of 31 Elmhurst Rd, Forest Gate, London. In 1937 he applied for a replacement discharge certificate and give his sister's address as 48 Stopford Rd, Forest Gate.

In 2004 the amount of information available on the internet was limited and I got no where with the Forest Gate connection. Over the years I revisited this search as more information was put on Ancestry.com. In 2020 I stumbled across a 1911 UK census entry for the Hipkins family which listed the head of the family as Joseph William Hipkins, his wife and 7 children including Sydney John (12) and Louise (10). The only common information was that their address was 48 Stopford Rd, Forest Gate. There were too may similarities to be a coincidence but I needed proof that Sydney used the name Hopkins rather than Hipkins. I did find an immigration record that a Sidney J Hipkins departed London and arrived in Melbourne in 1911 but there was nothing other than the name similarities to connect this record with Hopkins.

I revisited this search a few days ago and found a bit more information as well as the Hipkins family tree on Ancestry. I contacted Jane, the tree owner who is a descendent of the Hipkins family and the Hopkins information didn't quite align with the documented information. 

So I stated from scratch. All I could find in common was the 48 Stopford Rd address. Joseph William Hipkins died in Oct 1916 and it was in Apr 1917 that Sydney changed his NOK details as his father was deceased. Another coincidence but nothing conclusive. 

I looked at Sydney Hipkins siblings as listed in the 1911 census to see if that was the key.

One brother, Percy Arthur Hipkins served in the Royal Garrison Artillery during WWI but nothing came from that rabbit hole.

I than found another brother, Cecil John Hipkins also service in the RGA as a Lieutenant. With out much expectation I looked at Cecil's Medal Index Card which usually gives the barest of information. To my complete surprise Cecil's address is included on the MIC: 31 Elmhurst Rd, Forest Gate. The same address as Sydney gave for his sister Louise when he changed his NOK details. That was the proof I needed to confirm that Sydney John Hipkins and Sydney John Hopkins were the same person.

Sydney died in 1956 and is interned in Ipswich, QLD.

Sydney's 1914-415 Star and Victory Medal are noted on his service record as having been returned after his death in 1959. How the BWM came loose and eventually found its way to me is a mystery. I'll send this medal off to Jane in the near future.

The returned medal tally is now 2996.