Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Alexander Robert KEMP Lieutenant 41st Battalion
Alex Kemp was born in Brisbane on 5th March 1889. As a boy he attended Coorparoo State School from 1895 to 1902 and then Brisbane Grammar School for two years. Alex left school around the age of 15 after which he enlisted in the Regular Australian Army.

In the years prior to WW1, the regular army was a small professional force made up of British trained officers and NCOs and locally recruited soldiers. This force was supplemented by a much larger militia or citizens military force of part time volunteers. Alex reported that prior to enlistment in the AIF, he has served for two years in the 5th Light Horse and five and a half years on the instruction staff, rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant Major. Once recruitment for the AIF began, Alex was part of the training staff at Enoggera.

Alex completed an application for a commission as an officer in the AIF on 8th February 1916 while still serving at Enoggera. He formally applied for enlistment into the AIF on 23rd February, once his application for a commission was approved. Alex named his father, Alexander Hawkins Kemp of Lismore as his next of kin. Alex was allocated to the newly raised 41st Infantry Battalion as a 2nd Lieutenant with a pay rate of 15 shillings a day.

The 41st Battalion was part of the 11th Brigade of the 3rd Division AIF. On 18th May 1916, the battalion boarded the “Demosthenes” in Sydney and sailed via Capetown for England, arriving in Plymouth on 20th July. The various units that would make up the third division were being assembled at Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain under the command of Major General John Monash for further training before being sent to the front. Alex, with his previous experience in training was seconded to the bayonet fighting school at Tidworth for several weeks before being attached to the 10th Brigade headquarters on 1st November. On 15th November, Alex was promoted to full Lieutenant and the entire 3rd Division sailed from Southampton in late November bound for the front.

1916 had not produced the successes on the Western Front for which the British Commanders had hoped. 1917 would present an opportunity to shift operations north from the Somme to the Ypres Salient in Belgium. It was for this new offensive that Monash had specifically trained his brigades of infantry and artillery. The Flanders campaign was not set to begin until the summer and in the meantime, the units of the 3rd Division were allocated to rotations in and out of the frontline and reserve positions. Because the 3rd Division had been directly recruited from Australia, there were very few men in the ranks who had front line experience. Even Alex, as distinguished as his military career had been thus far, had not seen a shot fired in anger.

The 41st Battalion was performing routine tasks in the front areas around Ploegsteert (soldiers called it Plugstreet) during February and March 1917. Alex had been posted temporarily to Brigade headquarters when he was killed by an artillery shell on 2nd April 1917. The Brigade war diary recorded that enemy planes were directing artillery fire onto roads and artillery batteries. There is a simple notation after this sentence; Lt Kemp killed.

Alex’s body was conveyed to a nearby cemetery at Cite Bonjean where he was laid to rest with full honours. When his personal effects were conveyed back to Australia, they were accepted by a Miss Dorothy Rourke with an address C/- a firm of solicitors in Sydney. Alex’s father did not complete a Roll of Honour Circular and his headstone in Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery contains only his name, rank and unit.