Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

 
#4137  HORROBIN (also HORRIBIN) Joseph               25th Battalion
 
Joseph Horrobin was born to parents Richard and Alice in Staffordshire, England around 1889. The Horrobin family, consisting of Richard and Alice and at least three children, John, Joseph and Louisa, emigrated to Australia around 1896. By the outbreak of the First World War, the family was established at “Silverdale” in the Tingoora area just outside Kingaroy. It is possible that Joseph was working on a nearby farm at Wooroolin owned by the Booth family.
Joseph presented himself for enlistment to the Brisbane Recruiting Office at Adelaide Street on 20thSeptember 1915. He stated his age as 26 years and occupation labourer. Even though both of his parents were still living, Joseph named his elder brother John as his next of kin. Joseph reported to Bell’s Paddock camp at Enoggera where he was taken on by the 5th Depot Battalion for initial training. The AIF at that time was well resourced with reinforcements in the camps in Egypt and there was no immediate need to send further reinforcements. Joseph stayed at Enoggera for six months, during which time he was drafted as part of the 10th reinforcements for the 25th Battalion; part of the 7th Brigade of the 2nd Division AIF. On 28thMarch 1916, the 10th reinforcements sailed from Brisbane on the “Commonwealth” and arrived in Suez in Egypt a month later.
Joseph spent a short time in hospital at Suez with mumps before being discharged to the Australian Divisional Base at El Kabir. The 25th Battalion, already at full strength, had been one of the first AIF units to be despatched to France and the Western Front. Joseph and the rest of the 10th reinforcements were still surplus to battalion requirements and proceeded via Marseilles to the large British Depot and Transit Camp at Etaples on the French Coast near Boulogne, arriving there in June 1916.
General Haig, Supreme British commander on the Western Front was planning a big push on the Western Front in the south of the British sector through the Somme River valley for the summer of 1916. It was to be the largest battle of the war so far, and was timed to commence on the 1st of July. The attack was a disaster, with the British suffering 60,000 casualties on the first day. In spite of this, Haig was determined to push on and the 1st, 2nd and 4th Australian Divisions were moved south from the Armentieres sector to Albert to take part in the Somme offensive. 
 
The village of Pozieres, half way between Albert and Bapaume, sat on the highest point of that part of the battlefield. Pozieres was attacked and captured by the 1st Division on 26th July. The second division’s objective was to take a blockhouse which had been built on the site of a windmill in the village of Pozieres. The windmill was behind two lines of trenches, and provided a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. The attack, the first major offensive by the 25th Battalion since arriving in France, was to begin just after midnight on the 29th July. The attack was a failure, with the 25th Battalion suffering 343 casualties (from a strength of a little less than 1000 men). The battalion was relieved and went back into camp at Tara Hill. On the 2nd August, the 160 reinforcements from Etaples, including Joseph, moved out to be taken on by the 25th to make good some of the losses.
 
A second attack to capture the windmill was planned for the night of 4th August. The 25th moved up to the jumping off trenches ready for the artillery barrage to be laid down at 9:15pm. As the troops moved forward in the twilight, heavy enemy artillery rained down. Although suffering almost as many casualties as they had on 29th July, on the second attempt the objective was taken. When the battalions of the 2nd Division were relieved by the 4th Division, the 25th Battalion had taken 690 casualties in total, either killed, wounded or missing. One of the many missing was Joseph Horrobin who had been with his battalion for three days. Joseph’s brother was informed by telegram that Joseph was missing
 
The Military authorities in Melbourne (then the temporary national capital) and the Australian public at large were not prepared for the scale of casualties in July and August of 1916 (in total the AIF suffered 23,000). Families were provided with scant information by base records in Melbourne, which itself was relying on cable traffic which was often garbled.
Back home in Australia, family and loved ones could not contemplate that a person could simply disappear from the face of the earth and wild rumours circulated that loved ones had been seen fit and well, or were lying in hospital with no memory.
 
Sergeant Robert Booth, a member of the 25th, who knew Joseph well from his time at Wooroolin before the war informed Joseph’s family that he had heard that Joseph was seen in London in October. Buoyed by this news, the family instigated enquiries with the Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Service which found the claim to be without merit. An official Court of Inquiry conducted in August 1917 finally determined that Joseph had been killed in action on 5th August 1916. The whereabouts of his remains was unknown.
 
A parcel of Joseph’s personal possessions which included a silver cigarette case and cigarette holder, two silver matchboxes and postcards of Cairo was sent to the family at “Silverdale.” In 1928, some 12 years after the events at Pozieres, the Imperial War Graves Commission during excavations at the Pozieres battlefield located the remains of Joseph Horrobin. He was identified by his identity disc which although “somewhat impaired due to exposure” was returned to his by then elderly parents. Joseph’s remains were reinterred in the Serre Road Communal Cemetery.
 
On the site of the windmill and blockhouse at Pozieres today, a commemorative stone bears the following inscription:
THE RUIN OF THE POZIERES WINDMILL WHICH LIES HERE WAS THE CENTRE OF THE STRUGGLE IN THIS PART OF THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD IN JULY AND AUGUST 1916. THE BLOCKHOUSE WAS CAPTURED BY AUSTRALIAN TROOPS WHO FELL MORE THICKLY ON THIS RIDGE THAN ON ANY OTHER BATTLEFIELD OF THE WAR