LEADING SEAMAN PERCY EVELYN MARSHALL 1740 RAN.
Percy Marshall was born in Fremantle WA in March 1897, and at the time he enlisted into the RAN in June 1912 as a Boy 2nd Class he was residing in Melbourne. Percy was the fourth of five children born to Albert and Hermina Marshall. He was advanced to Boy 1st Class when he posted from HMAS Tingira to the Light Cruiser HMAS Melbourne in May 1913. In June 1914 Percy joined the Protected Cruiser HMAS Encounter where he would remain until May 1917.
Percy’s time on Encounter included the capture of German New Guinea and patrols in Malaysian and the East Indies waters. He was advanced to Ordinary Seaman 2ndClass in July 1914, to Ordinary Seaman in March 1915 and to Able Seaman in April 1916. He was rated as a Seaman Gunner in September 1916. After Percy enlisted in the RAN his parents moved to New Zealand, where his mother Hermina passed away in 1916. On leaving Encounter he joined the Sloop HMAS Fantome for five months before posting to HMAS Cerberus. He was rated as a Leading Seaman in September 1918.
Percy’s last two years in the RAN consisted of short postings to HMAS Una, HMAS Melbourne and the base ship HMAS Penguin, he discharged to shore “Invalided”, suppering from Epilepsy and Neurasthenia on the 6th of November 1920.
In late 1918 or early 1919 Percy married Hilda, making her his next of kin giving an address in New Zealand. On leaving the navy he took employment as a miner and the couple lived in Bright in Victoria, before returning to Melbourne where he worked at various times as a Labourer, a rigger, a bank official, cleaner and storeman. The couple would have one child, Florence born in 1923.
Percy Evelyn Marshall passed away in Melbourne on the 22nd of October 1969. His body was cremated, and his ashes lodged in the Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Banksia, Wall D.
