Leading Seaman
Gordon Clarence
CORBOULD
,
RAN
27

Gordon Corbould was born on 10 April 1887 and was from Strawberry Hills, Sydney, New South Wales. He was the son of Ernest and Alice Corbould of ‘Ashledoin’, Essex Road, Epping, New South Wales. He enlisted in the Australian Naval Force as an Ordinary Seaman on 30 September 1908 in HMS PYRAMUS, signing onfor a five year engagement. On enlisting he was described as being 5 feet 8 inches tall with brown hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion.
On 1 December 1910, Able Seaman Gordon Corbould was serving in HMS CHALLENGER when he re-engaged for a further five years’ service. By this time he had grown and was recorded as 5 feet 10 inches tall and he had tattoos on his right forearm and on his neck. At the time of the 1911 UK National Census he was listed as an Able Seaman staying overnight in the Duchess of Albany’s Home for Soldiers and Sailors in Edinburgh Road, Portsmouth.
He passed his examination for Leading Seaman on 8 November 1912. He re-enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy on 17 December 1912 for a period of seven years and qualified initially as an Able Seaman Torpedoman and later, as a Leading Torpedo Operator and was drafted to the London Depot on the same date. Gordon Corbould was advanced to Leading Seaman on 11 February 1913. He passed his professional examination for Petty Officer on 7 August 1913.
Gordon Corbould was drafted to ‘Submarines’ on 28 February 1914 ‘for passage to Australia’ and on arrival he was drafted to HMAS PENGUIN on 25 May 1914. He was reported as missing in HMAS AE1 on 14 September 1914. He was twenty seven years at the time of his death and his Next of Kin was listed as his mother – Mrs Alice Courbould of Epping, New South Wales. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial on Panel 4.