WARE, John Scott (1893-1961)
John Scott Ware was born at Geelong on 18 May 1893, the son of John Charles Ware and Annie Elizabeth nee Scott.
He was enrolled as a boarder at Geelong College in 1905. His address at the time was listed as 'Yalla-y-poora, Buangor. He later attended Melbourne Grammar School in 1909.
He gained pastoral experience under his father's management at Yalla-y Poora' prior to World War I, when he enlisted in the 1st Divisional Supply Column, AIF, as a Driver Mechanic on 5 November 1914. He transferred on 22 December 1914 to 9th Australian Army Service Corps, and arrived in France on 11 July 1915, where he was attached to 17th Division, British Expeditionary Force and was in all engagements taken part in by that Division until the arrival of the AlF in France in March 1916. He was then on transport duty in the 1st Motor Transport Company until 1 October 1918. His cousin 'Tim' Ware, an Old Geelong Grammarian, noted in a letter to his parents in May 1917:
'Tom Murray and Jack Ware are near us here 'somewhere', I have seen fellows who have seen both of them, but I have not run across them yet, they are both driving Heads around in their cars.'
He transferred to the Australian Flying Corps (AFC), receiving his commission as 2nd Lieutenant on 1 April 1919. He was then posted to 5 Squadron. He returned to Australia on 6 June and his appointment was terminated on 8 August 1919.
During the Second World War he served in Palestine, Syria and Bougainville.
His cousin, Bdr E I 'Tim' Ware, of 4 Field Artillery Brigade (FAB), and an Old Geelong Grammarian, succumbed to the Spanish influenza epidemic after the war, dying on 13 February 1919. He was buried in Charleroi Communal Cemetery, Belgium.
Sources: Based on an edited extract from Geelong Collegians at the Great War compiled by James Affleck. p332-333 (citing Alexander Henderson, Early Pioneer Families of Victoria and Riverina (1936); J Beacham Kiddle OBE, War Services Old Melbournians 1914-1918 (1923); Ware Family Papers; The Pegasus; National Archives).