PEARSE, Ralph Webb
| Service Number: | 7194 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 22 May 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 9th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Paddington, New South Wales, Australia, 1 March 1893 |
| Home Town: | North Sydney, North Sydney, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Glenmore Road Superior Public School, Paddington, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Clerk |
| Died: | Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Pulmonary Larynx, 4th Australian General Hospital, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia, 13 April 1921, aged 28 years |
| Cemetery: |
Gore Hill Cemetery, New South Wales Methodist 2 A 121 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 22 May 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 7194, 2nd Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Feb 1917: | Involvement Private, 7194, 2nd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: RMS Osterley embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 10 Feb 1917: | Embarked Private, 7194, 2nd Infantry Battalion, RMS Osterley, Sydney | |
| 17 Jun 1918: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 7194, 9th Infantry Battalion, Severe shrapnel wound to shoulder. Went to 1st Australian Clearing Station, then the Ambulance Train, then the 13th General Hospital at Boulogne, then Norfolk and Norwich Hospital in England on 27th June 1918. | |
| 13 Mar 1921: | Involvement Private, 7194, 9th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 7194 awm_unit: 9th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1921-03-13 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
PEARSE - April 13, at Prince of Wales' Military Hospital Randwick, Private Ralph Webb Pearse, dearly beloved son of Mrs Susie Pearse and the late Captain James Pearse, aged 27 years.
Biography contributed by John Oakes
Ralph Webb PEARSE was born at Paddington on 1st March 1893 and began his railway career as an apprentice clerk in the Traffic Auditor’s Branch in Sydney on 20th April 1909. On 1st January the next year he became a junior clerk, and a clerk on his 21st birthday in 1914.
Pearse was granted leave to join the Expeditionary Forces on 14th May 1916 and enlisted at the Royal Agricultural Society Showgrounds at Moore Park in Sydney a week later. He gave his mother, Susan Pearse, living in Neutral Bay as his next of kin.
At first, he was allotted to the 7th Reinforcements to the 55th Battalion, but this was changed to the 24th Reinforcements to the 2nd Battalion before he embarked on RMS ‘Osterley’ at Sydney on 19th February 1917. He reached Plymouth (England) on 11th April.
He had been given the rank of Sergeant for the voyage only but reverted to Private once he joined the 1st Training Battalion at Durrington. He then moved to the 63rd Battalion. He was attached to the 16th Brigade Headquarters and remained in a series of headquarters positions in England until he proceeded overseas to France through Southampton on 23rd November 1917. He was taken on strength of the 9th Battalion.
He was wounded in action on 17th June 1918. He was admitted to the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance with a severe shrapnel wound to his shoulder. He was then transferred to the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station, the Ambulance Train, the 13th General Hospital at Boulogne, before passage to England and admission to the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital on 27th June 1918. In August he was transferred to the 1st Auxiliary Hospital. He was given furlough later in that month but the old injury flared up and he was admitted to the Devonport Military Hospital.
In October he was again admitted to hospital, but now ‘feverish’ and assigned the acronym NYD – not yet diagnosed.
With the war over Pearse returned to Australia in January 1919. He now had a diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis. He resumed duty with the NSW Railways, but with the incurable disease taking its toll he retired on 21st February 1921.
Ralph Webb Pearse died at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, on 13th April 1921.
The declared date for inclusion in the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra is 31st March 1921. Clearly men continued to succumb to war injuries in the following years, but a line had to be drawn somewhere. Pearse is beyond that cut-off date, yet his name is on the Roll in Canberra as his date of death is recorded by that institution, apparently wrongly, as 13th March 1921. The cut-off date for the NSW Government Railways and Tramways Honour Board is unknown.
He was buried in the Methodist Cemetery, Gore Hill, on 15th April 1921.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.