CAMPBELL, Robert William
| Service Number: | 4451 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 2 August 1915, Pyramid Hill, Victoria |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 57th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Rodney, Victoria, Australia, 2 August 1893 |
| Home Town: | Knowsley, Greater Bendigo, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Knowsley East School & Bendigo Continuation School, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | State School Teacher |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 23 November 1916, aged 23 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Bendigo Great War Roll of Honor, Mologa War Memorial, Pyramid Hill Central Molga School Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 2 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4451, 7th Infantry Battalion, Pyramid Hill, Victoria | |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Jan 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 4451, 7th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Themistocles embarkation_ship_number: A32 public_note: '' | |
| 28 Jan 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 4451, 7th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Themistocles, Melbourne | |
| 23 Nov 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 4451, 57th Infantry Battalion, 'The Winter Offensive' - Flers/Gueudecourt winter of 1916/17, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 4451 awm_unit: 57 Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1916-11-23 |
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"..4451 Private Robert William Campbell, 7th (later 57th) Battalion, of Knowsley, Victoria. A school teacher prior to enlisting, he embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Themistocles (A32) on 28 January 1916. On 23 November 1916, he was killed in action in the Needle Trench near Gueudecourt, France, aged 23. He has no known grave and is remembered with honour on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France." - SOURCE (www.awm.gov.au)
Biography contributed by Andreena Hockley
Private Robert William Campbell, son of Mr. A. Campbell, of Knowsley, enlisted on the 2nd of August, 1915, and embarked with the 14th Reinforcements to the 7th Battalion on the transport Themistocles in January, 1916. While training in Egypt at Zeitoun, he was transferred to the 57th Battalion. He proceeded to France with this unit on the 17th of June.
On the 13th of July, he was wounded, and was invalided to England; but he rejoined his unit again on the 6th of November, and was killed in action on the 23rd. He was nineteen years of age, a fresh, active, conscientious teacher, who had relinquished charge of his first school (No. 2244, Mologa Central) for the "famine, toil, and fray" of military service in a far land.
He has a brother, Mr. A. G. Campbell, head teacher of No. 2159, Knowsley.
R. W. Campbell is well known in Bendigo, where he spent some years as junior teacher at School No. 1976 - the old school at Camp Hill. His official reports are consistently favorable with regard to his diligence and capacity as a teacher, and his maintenance of order and discipline.
Source: The Education Department's Record of War Service, Victoria, 1914-1919.
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