DUNCAN, Robert Samuel
| Service Number: | 2771 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 58th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Cootamundra, New South Wales, Australia, 15 June 1889 |
| Home Town: | Tocumwal, Berrigan, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Melbourne C of E Grammar; Dookie Agricultural College, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Orchardist |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Bullecourt, France, 12 May 1917, aged 27 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Melbourne Grammar School WW1 Fallen Honour Roll, Tocumwal Gunners Memorial, Tocumwal Memorial Hall Honour Rolls, Tocumwal Presbyterian Church Honour Roll, Tocumwal War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 2 Oct 1916: | Involvement Private, 2771, 58th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '20' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Nestor embarkation_ship_number: A71 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Oct 1916: | Embarked Private, 2771, 58th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Nestor, Melbourne |
Help us honour Robert Samuel Duncan's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Sharyn Roberts
Killed on 12th May 1917 was the son of Mr. William Duncan.. He was born in 1890 and entered the School in 1904 and left in 1905, then entering Dookie Agricultural College, where he gained the Fink Scholarship in 1908 and his Dipoloma in 1910, in which year he was dux. He then took up orange-growing at Cobram. On enlisting he joined the 58th Battalion AIF and was killed in the trenches between Noureill and Bullecourt. He was buried in the trenches.
War Service of Old Melbournians 1914 - 1918
Biography contributed by Stephen Brooks
2771 Private Robert Samuel Duncan, 58th Battalion AIF, killed in action 12 May 1917, age 25. Robert was the son of William and Christina Duncan and the husband of E. G. Hope Duncan, Albert Park, Victoria.
Robert was born at Tocumwal NSW and educated at Melbourne Grammar School. He enlisted during July 1916 as an orchardist from Tocumwal. He took on citrus growing on a sand hill block at Koonoomoo before he moved to Barooga where he grew tomatoes and citrus seedlings. He then took on the management of the “Quamby Grove” orchard nearer to Tocumwal because the previous manager had enlisted and was overseas. “Bob’ Duncan was also a keen member of the Tocumwal Rifle Club.
Also in the Courier August 1916, “There surely must be something about orange and lemon trees which impels the unencumbered growers thereof to down gardening tools and take up rifles instead, for no less than three Barooga district citrus men—Lindsay, Duncan, and now Rossiter—have responded to the Empire's call.”
Arriving in France on New Years Eve 1916, Robert was taken on the strength of the 58th Battalion and only 5 months later was killed during the 2nd Battle of Bullecourt in May 1917. He was one of thousands who had no witness to their demise, they simply disappeared. Although his body was found later and buried in the trenches his grave was subsequently lost. Having no known grave he is also remembered on the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux. Private Duncan had married in 1914, and left a wife and small child. He was very well known around Tocumwal, Koonoomoo and Cobram Barooga areas. He was an active member of the Cobram Rifle Club, a club whose membership enlisted en masse.
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