Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Robert Allison #6619 9th Battalion

The name of Robert Allison appears on the Coorparoo Shire Honour Board but does not appear on the Roll of Honour on the Memorial Gates at Langlands Park. His connection with the Coorparoo district is difficult to determine but in the interest of accuracy, he is included in this document.

Robert Allison enlisted on 29th November 1915. He stated that he was a 23 year old labourer living at Boundary Street, Spring Hill. Robert also stated that he was married to Dolly Allison (also shown on some documents as Dorothy or Kathleen) and had one son, Charles. The Roll of Honour circular completed by his mother in law, Kate Ryan indicates that Robert was born in Middlesbrough, England.

After being originally posted to a depot battalion at Enoggera, he was then drafted into the 6th reinforcements of the 9th Battalion. The 9th was one of the first battalions raised by the AIF in August 1914 and was comprised exclusively of Queensland volunteers. Curiously, instead of embarking with the next batch of reinforcements, Robert remained in Brisbane, being posted variously to the 15th, 49th, 9th, 12th, 31st before being finally posted back to the 9th Battalion. There is no indication in the records for the reason for the delay in Robert’s deployment overseas but finally Robert embarked with the 12th reinforcements on 21st October 1916, almost 11 months after he enlisted.

Robert arrived in Plymouth on 10th January 1917. While awaiting transport to his unit, he went AWL for 10 days in March and forfeited 21 days pay. Finally, on 11th May 1917, almost 18 months after first enlisting, Robert Allison joined the 9th Battalion which at that time was in the line around Bapaume. The 9th soon shifted north to the Armentieres sector. The summer of 1917 proved to be extremely wet, making it difficult for soldiers coming into and out of the line. The Flanders mud stuck to everything and men were constantly going down with diseases such as trench foot, trench fever and dysentery.

In August of 1917, Robert was admitted to hospital with an undiagnosed illness. (Recorded in his file as NYD; Not Yet Diagnosed). On 13th August, he was evacuated by hospital ship to England with acute nephritis (trench fever) where he spent almost five weeks in hospital before being discharged. Robert was granted 10 days furlough but failed to report to the depot on 5th October. He was finally apprehended 7 days later and appeared before the commanding officer of the depot battalion where he was sentenced to 7 days Field Punishment #2 (offender to be placed in shackles for two hours in every 24. Only ever carried out when battalions were out of the line) and fined 15 days pay.

While waiting to be shipped back to his unit in France, Robert was again admitted to the Military Hospital in Weymouth, and then on to Sutton Veney Hospital with an abscess on his thigh. He spent Christmas of 1917 in hospital and was not fit to rejoin his battalion until 22nd February 1918.

The 9th Battalion in early 1918 were still stationed around the French / Belgian border area, engaged in active patrols against the enemy who had recently recaptured much of the ground won by the British in the previous three and a half years. The 3rd brigade diary for May and June records a series of scouting patrols being conducted in order to gain intelligence for a planned offensive on 19th and 20th June. The battalion diary noted that this was a comparatively small operation aimed at capturing a number of strongpoints that had been identified. During the raid, 2 officers and 6 other ranks were killed by enemy machine gun fire, one of whom was Private Robert Allison.
Robert was buried in the British Cemetery just behind the lines at Borre between Hazebrouck and Strazeele and at the conclusion of hostilities, a limestone headstone was erected over his grave. Photographs of his grave were sent to his widow.

Robert’s widow and his young son were granted a war pension of 2 pounds/fortnight and 1 pound/fortnight respectively but some time in 1919, it would appear that Robert’s widow; Dolly, left her son in the care of her mother; Kate Ryan. When Base Records in Melbourne wrote to Dolly to issue war medals, the correspondence was returned unclaimed.

A letter in Robert’s file from Kate Ryan dated 1923 advises that she had been staying in London (with Charles?) and had only recently returned to Australia. Had she taken Charles to see his father’s grave at Borre? She reported that she had no knowledge of Dolly’s whereabouts but did report that Dolly had remarried. Kate also requested that since Dolly could not be contacted, perhaps she could be issued with the medals to be kept in trust for Charles. The authorities were very careful to adhere to the policy of issuing medals in a strict hierarchy, but finally accepted Kate’s argument even though neither she nor Charles were listed as next of kin. Kate Ryan completed the Roll of Honour Circular for Robert Allison in 1929 but she was unable to provide any details of his early life.

It is uncertain what Robert’s connection was with the Coorparoo district. The absence of Kate Ryan and grandson Charles in England at the time when the Shire Memorial Gates were being erected provides one possible reason for the omission of his name.