SIGNALMAN SIDNEY EDWARD READ 2122 RAN
Sidney Read was born in Hobart in November 1896 the son of Edward and Ada Read. He enlisted in the RAN as a Boy 2nd Class in September 1912 to train on HMAS Tingira.
Sidney was advanced to Boy 1st Class in June 1913 and to Signal Boy in August 1913. His first sea posting was the Protected Cruiser HMAS Encounter on the 14th of December 1913, and he was advanced to Ordinary Seaman 2nd Class the following Day and to Ordinary Seaman on his 18th birthday. Whilst serving in Encounter, Sidney took part in the capture of German New Guinea and in patrols off Fiji and Samoa. In June 1915 he was posted to HMAS Cerberus, probably for advanced training as he was advanced to Signalman on completion of the short posting. He then joined HMAS Una where he would remain until March 1918.
The Una was a German vessel (Komet) captured in New Guinea and Sidney’s war would consist of monotonous patrols of New Guinea, New Hebrides, New Britian, and Malayan waters. He would then serve on the minesweeper HMAS Coogee, a converted passenger ferry, until December 1918. His final sea posting was the surveying sloop HMAS Geranium from July 1920 until July 1921. He discharged from the RAN on the 19th of November 1921 at own request.
In 1924 Edward married Marjorie Sweeney, he would work as a storekeeper in Wilmot Tasmania in the 1930s. At the outbreak of WW2, he was living in Ellendale, Tasmania, and he unsuccessfully applied to re-enter the RAN. Undaunted he enlisted in the Army Militia as a Corporal (T22922) in a signal’s unit. He received a compassionate discharge in March 1943 when Marjorie passed away. He returned to Ellendale and by 1949 had remarried to Verna. Sid would have a six children Ted, Faye, Pauline, Elaine, Judith and Robert. By 1972 he had retired and was living in Hobart.
Sidney Read passed away in Hobart on the 1st of July 1975 aged 78. His body was cremated, and his ashes are interred in Cornelian Bay Cemetery Hobart Derwent Gardens Niche Wall, 47, Number 4 Row D.
