Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

 
# 4281 ROWLAND Francis Richmond             9th Battalion
 
Francis Rowland was born at Haddon Court, Croydon in Surrey UK on 21st July 1897. The Rowland family were descended from General John Richmond Webb who had defeated French and Spanish forces at Lille during the wars of the Spanish succession. Francis’ father, Charles Rowland, was born in England and emigrated to NSW where he met Blanche Watson who was also an English immigrant. The couple married and returned to England where four children were born before the family emigrated to Australia once more in about 1907. There is no record of the family arriving by ship in Queensland so it must be assumed that Charles, Blanche and the four children landed first in Sydney. The family moved north into Queensland and settled on a block near Koondai Creek, east of Bell, which was named “Dalmoora”.
 
Young Frank had been privately educated in England but on his arrival in Queensland attended the Koondai Creek State School from the age of ten. Upon leaving school, Frank assisted with the work at “Dalmoora,” and later described himself as a farmer or selector in later years.
 
Frank attended the Toowoomba recruiting depot on 21st September 1915 to enlist in the AIF. He stated that he was just past his 18th birthday. Which meant that recruiters should technically sight permission from both parents. There is no such note in Frank’s file.
 
Frank journeyed down to Brisbane by train and marched in to the Enoggera Camp where his training began. A studio photograph taken at Fegan Studios in Brisbane shows a fresh-faced Frank in his new uniform. Such photographs were usually taken just prior to embarkation for overseas with the studio supplying several prints for distribution to family and friends. Frank and the rest of the 13th reinforcements for the 9th Battalion boarded the Kyarra in Brisbane on 3rd January 1916. The embarkation roll shows that Frank had allocated 4 shillings of his daily pay of 5 shillings to be kept in trust. The “Kyarra” arrived in Egypt on 19th February and the reinforcements were marched out to the 3rd Brigade Training Battalion while the AIF went through a period of reorganisation and expansion.
 
Frank sailed from Alexandria on 9th May 1916 and upon arrival at Marseilles was sent to the large infantry depot at Etaples on the coast of Northern France. Frank was posted to the 9th Entrenching Battalion on 11thJuly. The 9th Battalion and the sappers in the entrenching unit were called up to the line on 21st July at Pozieres. The 9th, as part of the 1st Division had captured part of the village of Pozieres and was then relieved so that the 2nd Division could continue the attack. When the 9th was relieved, Frank was transferred to the 9th Battalion proper as an infantryman.
 
The battle for Pozieres lasted well into August and the thrust of the attacks had moved a few hundred metres to assault the ruins of a farmhouse which was shown on maps as Le Ferme de Mouquet (Mouquet Farm). All attempts to take the heavily defended farmhouse and cellars were repulsed. During one such assault on 21st August, Frank Rowland received a shrapnel wound to his back. He was transported via field ambulance and casualty clearing station to the 13th General Hospital at Boulogne. On 3rd September, Frank was carried aboard a hospital ship for evacuation to England; arriving at the North Evington Hospital in Leicestershire. After treatment and a period of convalescence, Frank returned to the base depot at Etaples on 15th December and rejoined his battalion on the Somme five days later.
 
The 9th Battalion took part in operations as the Germans began a strategic withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line in the spring of 1917. After seeing action at Bullecourt, the entire AIF was withdrawn for a prolonged period of resting and training in the Ypres sector of the front in Belgian Flanders. The third battle of Ypres, more commonly known as Passchendaele began in June 1917 but the men of the 1st Division were kept out of the initial attacks at Messines. On 1st September, Frank was designated as a driver, meaning he was probably responsible for driving a team of four horses or mules which pulled a general service wagon. The following day, Frank went on leave in England for two weeks.
Frank’s return to the front in September 1917 coincided with the Battle of Menin Road in which the 1st and 2nd Divisions of the AIF had important roles. This was followed by advances against Broodseinde Ridge. This latter part of the Flanders campaign proved to be very difficult for the horse teams as they struggled through the clinging mud which became worse as the advance continued. At Passchendaele, the entire advance was halted when men and animals were exhausted by their efforts. The onset of winter brought a welcome reprieve for the 9th Battalion and the rest of the AIF when they went into comfortable Nissen huts around the town of Poperinghe well behind the front.
 
 
The latter part of 1917 produced a change in the strategic situation for the German command. The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia brought about the end to fighting on the Eastern Front. A peace treaty between Germany and Russia released up to sixty German divisions which, once re-equipped and re-trained, could be used to press home a distinct advantage on the Western Front. The window for exploiting this advantage was however rather small as the entry of the United States into the war and an expected surge in troop numbers from July 1918 onwards would swing the advantage back to the Entente. The German commander, Ludendorff had only a short time to press home his advantage.
 
The British Commander, General Haig, was fully expecting the German assault in the spring of 1918 and was expecting the thrust to come in the Ypres salient in Belgium. Haig had kept his most reliable forces in Belgium and this included the five divisions of the AIF. The German spring offensive was planned to commence on 21st March 1918, and for days beforehand, the war diary of the 9th Battalion records an increase in enemy artillery bombardments and gas attacks. By dawn on the 21st March, it was clear that the men of the 3rd Brigade, including the 9th, were facing a major enemy assault in the vicinity of the village of Whitjschate.
 
It is recorded that on 22nd March, Driver Francis Rowland was killed on the Mount Kemmel Road between and Whitjschate and Renninghelst. He had in all lilihood been carrying supplies up to his battalion in the front line when his wagon was hit by an artillery shell. Frank was buried in the nearby military cemetery at Clytte. A parcel of Frank’s personal belongings was forwarded to the AIF Depot in London to be despatched to Frank’s father in Bell. Unfortunately, the S.S. Barunga which was carrying a cargo of over 5,000 items of personal property being sent back to next of kin was torpedoed by a German submarine off the Scilly Isles. No lives were lost but all cargo went to the bottom. At the conclusion of the war, the Imperial War Graves Commission began the task of erecting headstones of Portland Limestone above the graves of the fallen. The Rowland family chose as the inscription on Francis’ headstone; SANS PEURET SANS RE’PROCHE (Fearless and Blameless), a classical reference to the description of a 16th Century French Knight.