Vincent Frederick LAW #63998

Indigenous Australian, Vincent LAW, 5th Reinforcements, Egypt

Vincent Frederick Law was born in Gayndah, Queensland in 1897 to George Law (1873-1961) and Katie Garde (1870-1931) and was employed as a jockey before enlisting in July 1918.

Vincent and his cousin Douglas Law, who enlisted at the same time, trained at 'Rifle Range Camp', Enoggera near Brisbane before embarking overseas for Egypt on HMAT Port Darwin in September 1918 with the 5th Reinforcements, Egypt.

In May 1919 Law, now designated a driver with 32 Company, Australian Mechanical Transport Depot was sent into Kantara on duty and was thrown from his horse after which he suffered a dangerous concussion, having being kicked in the head as he fell. Law was admitted to the 24th Stationary Hospital, Kantara for treatment where he was described as dangerously ill, but after several weeks was recovered well enough to return to his unit. Vincent Law was returned to Australia 2 September 1919.

In 1929 Vincent Law married Mabel 'Gee Gee' Hopkins (-1938) they had three children who died in infancy; in 1944 he married Marjorie Joan Clevins (1925-) - they had 14 children; Vincent Law died in 1978 age 80 years.

• Service record: LAW, Vincent Frederick
• One of the soldiers featured in SLQ’s HistoryPin Collection
• Queensland’s Indigenous Servicemen [oral history]

The information in this blog post has been researched by State Library staff and volunteers, it is based on available information at this time. If you have more information that you would like to share or further research uncovers new findings, this post will be updated.