George Ernest LUCKETT

Boer War Service

Service Number: 453
Rank: Sergeant
Unit: 5th South Australian Imperial Bushmen
Conflict / Operation: South Africa, 1899-1902 (Boer War)
Native place: South Australia, Australia
Source: Murray page number - 368

Service Numbers: 453, 299
Enlisted: Not yet discovered
Last Rank: Sergeant
Last Unit: 9th Light Horse Regiment
Born: Not yet discovered
Home Town: Not yet discovered
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: signal man
Died: Circumstances of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: AIF Cemetery, West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide, South Australia
Section: LO, Road: 4S, Site No: 37
Memorials: Adelaide Australian Harbours Board WW1 Roll of Honour, Adelaide Grand Masonic Lodge WW1 Honour Board (2)

Boer War Service

1 Oct 1899: Involvement Sergeant, SN 453, 5th South Australian Imperial Bushmen

World War 1 Service

11 Feb 1915: Involvement SN 299, 9th Light Horse Regiment
11 Feb 1915: Embarked SN 299, 9th Light Horse Regiment, HMAT Karroo, Melbourne
11 Nov 1918: Involvement SN 299, 9th Light Horse Regiment

https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/787134 

Digitised Records (National Archives Australia)

The above document was written by researcher Chris Ward, and submitted for publication 26 August 2023.

1906  Years ago a sailor lad, a native of Birmingham, was shipwrecked on the western coast of Kangaroo Island. That he at the same time saved the life of his captain, and a thereby earned the Royal Humane Society's medal, was one of the stirring incidents of the period and of the wreck of the You Yangs. Amongst some of the wreckage subsequently, picked up off the rocks was a letter addressed to this lad, containing a lock of his sweetheart's hair. The finder sent the letter on to its owner—then the hero of the hour—with the result that this lad some four weeks later came by his own —the only article, possibly the most treasured, of his sea-chest contents to escape destruction. To-day, after a married life of some 13 years, and after a career of stirring adventure, both lad and sweetheart are to be met at Cape Borda in the persons of Mr. and Mrs. George Luckett.

To settle down so late to the routine of life as third keeper of the lighthouse, so near the scene of the You Yangs wreck, must seem passing strange and a great contrast to a man who, apart from the above-mentioned medal for saving life, has earned a medal for taking part as a sailor in the Boxer rebellion in China, and another with two clasps as a soldier sergeant in the late Boer war. 

That the children inherit some of the parent's spirit can be gauged from the following. One, a boy of 16, was shot through the muscle of the arm above the elbow, with a bullet from a small rifle. The companion, who had accidentally caused the mischief made in for help, 1½ miles distant. The victim and his little brother trotted along a few yards until the persistent flow of blood scared them into stopping. When found by the father the victim was sitting with one finger in-serted in the wound where the bullet went in, whilst the little brother plugged the hole with his little fingers on the underside of the wound. Experience with bullet-wounds in South Africa enabled the father to make a satisfactory job of binding up the injury. On the way home, on his father's back, the victim enquired, "Do you think I'll die, father?" "Well, not yet, my lad, but maybe when I get you home, and get the strap to work, you will!" A cheery sort of rejoinder, to which the lad attached no importance.