ALLEN, Robert Burke
| Service Number: | 5 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 20 December 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 39th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Violet Town, 1878 |
| Home Town: | Violet Town, Strathbogie, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Violet Town State School |
| Occupation: | Skin and wool buyer |
| Memorials: | Euroa Telegraph Park, Violet Town Honour Roll WW1 |
World War 1 Service
| 20 Dec 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1 | |
|---|---|---|
| 27 May 1916: | Involvement Sergeant, 5, 39th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: '' | |
| 27 May 1916: | Embarked Sergeant, 5, 39th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, Melbourne |
Robert Burke Allen
ALLEN Robert Burke 5 SGT
39th Battalion
1878-1942
Robert Burke Allen’s father William is quoted in Don Chamber’s book ‘Violet Town or Honeysuckle in Australia Felix’ as ‘opening a general store adjacent to the railway station in Cowslip Street.’ His was a ‘one stop’ store, catering for the needs of townspeople and farmers. There were no plastic-wrapped, over-processed food products. Biscuits would have been weighed and sold in paper bags, potatoes and onions were displayed in sacks, there were green vegetables in season – no imports – and sweets were displayed in large glass jars to be counted out, like biscuits into paper bags. William is also reported as ‘stocking the Honeysuckle Creek with carp before 1884.’
Otherwise not much is known of the Allen family except that William married Emily Sarah Sanderson and produced two sons – Robert Burke born in 1878 and Norman Trevethan born in 1880. Emily Sanderson was a younger sister of Drusilla Swailes Sanderson who married Wlliam Dening Crocker in 1866, thus linking the two families.
Robert married Winifred Emily Beauchamp in 1904 and worked as a wool and skin buyer in Melbourne. From here he enlisted on 20 December 1915 when he was 37, naming Winifred as his next of kin.
His initial training was at Ballarat where he was promoted to the rank of SGT. On 27 May 1916 he embarked for overseas aboard HMAT Ascanis bound for Devonport, England. In November, after four months of training at Larkhill his Battalion embarked from Southampton for Le Havre in France to take part in the fighting on the Western Front. The Battalion entrained north to Merris for instruction in all conditions of active service including testing and fitting of gas respirators and bayonet fighting.
Lady Hadfield, a British philanthropist, had set up an important hospital centre at Wimereux and nearby Bologne on the French coast, to cater for wounded and sick troops. On 29 December 1916 Robert was sent there suffering from sciatica and debility. Later he was invalided to hospital in Brighton, England. In March 1917 he was discharged to Depot where he remained until his return to Australia a year later aboard the HS Durham Castle.
Robert was discharged on 19 June 1918 to return to his former job as skin buyer. He and Winifred lived in Jolimont. There were no children. Robert died in Bendigo 1942. Winifred died six years later.
Service medals: British war Medal, Victory Medal.
Tree No 64, Acer negundo – Box Elder – was planted in 1917 by A Shaw.
It was still standing in 2013.
Submitted 5 December 2015 by sheila burnell
Biography
ALLEN Robert Burke 5 SGT
39th Battalion
1878-1942
Robert Burke Allen’s father William is quoted in Don Chamber’s book ‘Violet Town or Honeysuckle in Australia Felix’ as ‘opening a general store adjacent to the railway station in Cowslip Street.’ His was a ‘one stop’ store, catering for the needs of townspeople and farmers. There were no plastic-wrapped, over-processed food products. Biscuits would have been weighed and sold in paper bags, potatoes and onions were displayed in sacks, there were green vegetables in season – no imports – and sweets were displayed in large glass jars to be counted out, like biscuits into paper bags. William is also reported as ‘stocking the Honeysuckle Creek with carp before 1884.’
Otherwise not much is known of the Allen family except that William married Emily Sarah Sanderson and produced two sons – Robert Burke born in 1878 and Norman Trevethan born in 1880. Emily Sanderson was a younger sister of Drusilla Swailes Sanderson who married Wlliam Dening Crocker in 1866, thus linking the two families.
Robert married Winifred Emily Beauchamp in 1904 and worked as a wool and skin buyer in Melbourne. From here he enlisted on 20 December 1915 when he was 37, naming Winifred as his next of kin.
His initial training was at Ballarat where he was promoted to the rank of SGT. On 27 May 1916 he embarked for overseas aboard HMAT Ascanius bound for Devonport, England. In November, after four months of training at Larkhill his Battalion embarked from Southampton for Le Havre in France to take part in the fighting on the Western Front. The Battalion entrained north to Merris for instruction in all conditions of active service including testing and fitting of gas respirators and bayonet fighting.
Lady Hadfield, a British philanthropist, had set up an important hospital centre at Wimereux and nearby Bologne on the French coast, to cater for wounded and sick troops. On 29 December 1916 Robert was sent there suffering from sciatica and debility. Later he was invalided to hospital in Brighton, England. In March 1917 he was discharged to Depot where he remained until his return to Australia a year later aboard the HS Durham Castle.
Robert was discharged on 19 June 1918 to return to his former job as skin buyer. He and Winifred lived in Jolimont. There were no children. Robert died in Bendigo 1942. Winifred died six years later.
Service medals: British war Medal, Victory Medal.
Tree No 64, Acer negundo – Box Elder – was planted in 1917 by A Shaw.
It was still standing in 2013.
© Sheila Burnell, December 2015