Joseph Manasseh Gubbay was born in December 1888 to Simha and Manasseh Gubbay, at Sydney. The family moved to Hamilton (Newcastle) NSW, where Joseph worked as a salesman.

He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 6 May 1916, aged 27, at Newcastle and embarked aboard HMAT A30 Borda on 17 October 1916 as No. 2308 Pte Joseph Manasseh Gubbay, with the 4th Reinforcements of the 36th Battalion, arriving in England 12 January 1917. After further training, he went to France on 26 April, where he joined the battalion, which was part of the 9th Infantry Brigade of the AIF 3rd Division on the Western Front, on 1 May. From 7 June, the battalion took part in the Battle of Messines, Belgium (see attached). The initial assault was preceded by the detonation of 19 huge mines under the German front line which caused an estimated 10,000 German casualties. The following day, 8 June 1917, Joseph was killed in action, age 28. No details are provided in his record and his body was either not found or identified.

In April 1918, a package of Joseph’s effects was sent to Miss Hannah Carter of Tighes Hill (Newcastle), in accordance with his Will – his father being unaware of same until 1919. In January 1921, his father received from the Army 3 photographs purporting to mark Joseph’s grave at the Strand Military Cemetery, but the following October Army wrote to regretfully advise that it was “a Memorial only and does not mark the actual burial place of your son.”

Pte Joseph Manasseh Gubbay’s name appears on Addenda Panel 59 of the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium – along with 6,178 Australians from a total of 56,000 men who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave.