Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Robert H BAILEY, (Service Number 695) had a tenuous relationship with the NSW Railways. Between 30 March 1916 and 25 November 1916, and again between 8 December 1916 and 18 January 1917, he had been a casual cleaner at Valley Heights depot. A specific note on his record card authorises the payment of the difference between his military pay and his railway pay. The record of his death ‘killed in action’ appears in the same hand possibly at the same time. It would seem that Bailey was a part time employee, who once news of his death was received, was retrospectively given a formality to his work, so that the railways could claim him for their Honour Roll.
The name on the Honour Board is R H Bailey, and that on the Honour Roll is Robert H Bailey. While there are several men named Robert H Bailey who served in the AIF, none correspond with the man identified by the railway record card. This document offers few identifying details – not even a birth date, but it does give the date on which Bailey was killed in action – 31 August 1918.
Robert Bailey is recorded as dying on that date, so his details are presumed to be those of the man whose name appears on the Honour Board.
He was born about January 1896, as he gives his age as 21 years when he enlisted in January 1917. He gives his calling as ‘Fireman’, a position to which a ‘Cleaner’ would normally progress. He had been born at Barrow-in-Furness, England and gave his mother, living in Katoomba, as his next of kin. This would seem to be consistent with being a cleaner at Valley Heights.
He left Melbourne on HMAT ‘Ballarat’ on 19 February 1917. Although at first attached to a specific railway unit, this seems to have lapsed and he became a Private in the 19th Battalion. During 1917 he served in France, with several periods of sickness and hospitalisation due to illness. He was killed in action on 31 August 1918 and was buried in an isolated grave about 90 yards from a ruined house just W of Mount St Quentin and 1 mile N of Péronne. The remains were later exhumed and re-interred in Péronne Communal General Cemetery Extension.
Robert Bailey’s brother, identified in a letter to military authorities from their mother as ‘Private F Bailey’, also died in the Great War. Frankland Bailey was killed in action eight days after his brother.
(NAA B2455-3045547) and (NAA B2455-3044803)

Robert H BAILEY, (Service Number 695) had a tenuous relationship with the NSW Railways. Between 30 March 1916 and 25 November 1916, and again between 8 December 1916 and 18 January 1917, he had been a casual cleaner at Valley Heights depot. A specific note on his record card authorises the payment of the difference between his military pay and his railway pay. The record of his death ‘killed in action’ appears in the same hand possibly at the same time. It would seem that Bailey was a part time employee, who once news of his death was received, was retrospectively given a formality to his work, so that the railways could claim him for their Honour Roll.
The name on the Honour Board is R H Bailey, and that on the Honour Roll is Robert H Bailey. While there are several men named Robert H Bailey who served in the AIF, none correspond with the man identified by the railway record card. This document offers few identifying details – not even a birth date, but it does give the date on which Bailey was killed in action – 31 August 1918.
Robert Bailey is recorded as dying on that date, so his details are presumed to be those of the man whose name appears on the Honour Board.
He was born about January 1896, as he gives his age as 21 years when he enlisted in January 1917. He gives his calling as ‘Fireman’, a position to which a ‘Cleaner’ would normally progress. He had been born at Barrow-in-Furness, England and gave his mother, living in Katoomba, as his next of kin. This would seem to be consistent with being a cleaner at Valley Heights.
He left Melbourne on HMAT ‘Ballarat’ on 19 February 1917. Although at first attached to a specific railway unit, this seems to have lapsed and he became a sapper in the 19th Battalion. During 1917 he served in France, with several periods of sickness and hospitalisation due to illness. He was killed in action on 31 August 1918 and was buried in an isolated grave about 90 yards from a ruined house just W of Mount St Quentin and 1 mile N of Péronne. The remains were later exhumed and re-interred in Péronne Communal General Cemetery Extension.
Robert Bailey’s brother, identified in a letter to military authorities from their mother as ‘Private F Bailey’, also died in the Great War. Frankland Bailey was killed in action eight days after his brother.
(NAA B2455-3045547) and (NAA B2455-3044803)