Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

France & Flanders covers all the dates and corresponding locations which are outside the official battle nomenclature dates on the Western Front. Therefore the actions in which these men died could be considered 'normal' trench duty - the daily attrition losses which were an everyday fact of duty on the Western Front.

Detail :

His portrait image can be found on the Virtual War Memorial Australia.

Wings of War Forum / David Barnes: "GAVIN ALEXANDER PORTER, elder son of Alexander Porter, of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, and his wife Hannah (Shaw), was born on June 23rd, 1891. He was educated at Guildford Grammar School, Western Australia, whence he came to England in 1905 and entered U.C.L. to study for matriculation. He returned to Australia in 1907 but was back in England in 1910, and started an Engineering Course. He found this too slow for him, and obtained a commission in the R.F.A., being gazetted on September 30th, 1911. On May 24th, 1913, he transferred to the R.A., and was promoted Lieutenant on June 9th, 1915. He went to France in August, 1914, and with the 68th Battery took part in the retreat from Mons and all the subsequent fighting. He had for some time been interested in flying, and after acting as observer with the R.F.C. he took his pilot’s certificate at Etampes and returned to England to complete his course of instruction. On July 5th, 1915, he was gazetted to the R.F.C., and on November 17th was promoted Flight-Commander. On Sunday, December 5th, 1915, Porter's squadron was engaged in an air fight, and his machine was brought down by a Fokker just outside Havrincourt, which was then in German hands. Both occupants seem to have been killed in the air. On the following Tuesday they were given a military funeral in the cemetery of Havrincourt with full honours. The French civilians, in spite of prohibition by the Germans, attended the funeral, and until they were evacuated, kept the graves well tended. Flight-Commander Porter's body now lies in the Communal Cemetery Extension of Achiet-le-Grand."

South Australian Aviation Museum History Group: Chas Schaedel:

"Gavin Alexander PORTER was born on 23 June 1891 in Parkside, South Australia and educated at Guildford Grammar School, WA. He visited England in 1905 and again in 1910 returning in 1914 and subsequently enlisting in the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) when the First World War was declared. After seeing early action in France with the RFA he gained expereince with the RFC as an observer before training as a pilot.

Porter gained his RAeC Certificate 1907 on a Maurice Farman Biplane at the Farman School, 29 April 1915, before completing his pilot training in England. Posted to No.13 Squadron RFC he was promoted to Captain and further to Flight Commander. He served in France until 5 December 1915. when he and 1AM H J Kirkbride were shot down in a BE2c 4092. Kirkbride was killed during the fight and Porter died the following day. They were both buried with full military honours in Havrincourt Cemetery. They were later reburied in Aichet-le-Grand Communal Cemetery."

Masonic :

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley
• Website : De Ruvigny' s Roll of Honour