MBE, WW1 Medal Group of Four
Name: Stephen Lackey Kessell
Service No: 55839
Unit: Field Company Engineers
Naming Details:
- MBE (in case) unnamed,
- British War Medal impressed - 55839 SPR. S. L. KESSELL. F.C.E. A.I.F.
- Coronation Medals both unnamed.
- Returned Soldiers Discharged Badge no. 254327.
Additional Information
Record of Service:
Stephen Kessell was born on the 17th of March 1897 in Wollongong, New South Wales. He was a student who had just finished his studies in forestry at Adelaide University when he enlisted in the A.I.F on the 18th of December 1917. He was allocated service number 55839 and embarked from Sydney on the 5th of June 1918 with the 2nd General Reinforcements.
Stephen disembarked at Liverpool on the 11th of August 1918 and transferred to the Field Engineer Details on the 29th of August 1918. On the 11th of January 1919 he was granted leave and studied a post graduate course in forestry at Oxford University. He returned to Australia on the 22nd of January 1920.
Stephen went on to be one of Australia’s foremost forestry experts and was a prominent member of the CSIRO working with them on forestry science. In May 1941 he was seconded to the Commonwealth Department of Munitions as controller of timber.
Stephen was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire on the 1st of January 1951 “for service as a controller of timber, used for war purposes.” He was awarded the 1935 Silver Jubilee medal and the 1937 Coronation Medal
as “Conservator of Forests W.A” He died in Melbourne on the 29th of June 1979.
Notes:
MBE (in case) unnamed, British War Medal impressed 55839 SPR. S. L. KESSELL. F.C.E. A.I.F. Coronation Medals both unnamed. Returned Soldiers Discharged Badge no. 254327.