Henry William Reeve was born in East Melbourne in 1876, but appears to have had no further contact with the suburb. When he enlisted on 10 August, 1915, he was living with his wife, Lily G Reeve at Castlemaine St. ,Yarraville , and working as a labourer. He was then thirty eight and nine months old, with blue eyes and brown hair, Presbyterian by religion, 5'7" tall and weighing ten stone. On enlistment, he was assigned to the 8th Depot Battalion at Ascot Vale for training. However, he was then found to be unfit for service and discharged, due to flat feet and  swelling to the right foot, caused by an injury from a falling ladder eight years before. He was declared unfit for service and discharged on 15 October 1915.