PLEDGER, Robert Portway
| Service Number: | 333 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 3 January 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Trooper |
| Last Unit: | 11th Light Horse Regiment |
| Born: | Peterborough, England, 13 March 1892 |
| Home Town: | Warwick, Southern Downs, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Semak, Palestine, 25 September 1918, aged 26 years |
| Cemetery: |
Haifa War Cemetery, Israel Grave B.56. INSCRIPTION GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS , Haifa War Cemetery, Haifa, Israel |
| Memorials: | Allora Shire Soldiers Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 3 Jan 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, 333, 11th Light Horse Regiment | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Jun 1915: | Involvement Private, 333, 11th Light Horse Regiment, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Borda embarkation_ship_number: A30 public_note: '' | |
| 2 Jun 1915: | Embarked Private, 333, 11th Light Horse Regiment, HMAT Borda, Brisbane | |
| 25 Sep 1918: | Involvement Trooper, 333, 11th Light Horse Regiment, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 333 awm_unit: 11 Light Horse Regiment awm_rank: Trooper awm_died_date: 1918-09-25 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
Service Number 333 Trooper 11th Australian Light Horse. Killed in action 25th September 1918. Age 26.
Births Jun 1892 Robert Portway Peterbro' 3b 247.
Robert was born in Peterborough on 13/3/1892, the second son of Leopold Pledger and Annie nee Blain. On the 1901 census they lived at The Willows, Lime Tree Avenue, Peterborough. (Leopold was a corn merchant; Annie died in 1904). On 20/1/1904 Robert was admitted to The King’s School. He was in the cricket team in 1907 and 1908, and the rugby team in 1907-08 and 1908-09. He left in 1909. On 1/10/1909 Robert and elder brother George (who had also attended The King’s School) boarded the Otranto and sailed 3rd class to Brisbane, Australia. They set up business as farmers at Goomburra in Queensland. Shortly after the outbreak of the War, both brothers enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force: Robert enlisted on 31/12/1914; George enlisted on 26/12/1914.
He enlisted as a Trooper with B Squadron of the 11th Light Horse Regiment, Fourth Light Horse Brigade.
The Embarkation Rolls record that he boarded H.M.A.T. Borda at Brisbane on 2/6/1915. His Regiment re-trained in Egypt as an Infantry unit, having been ordered to leave their horses in Australia. In August he moved to Gallipoli, where he transferred to the 5th Light Horse Regiment on 29/8/1915. On 6/11/1915 he was transported to hospital in Malta suffering from dysentery. He was later admitted at Heliopolis on 14/1/1916, and at Helouan on 21/1/1916, suffering from jaundice. On 25/1/1916 he re-joined his unit, which was then in Egypt, having left Gallipoli on 20/12/1915. (Robert’s Army service file records that he suffered recurrent bouts of dysentery/diarrhoea, which necessitated hospitalisation on several further occasions). Robert transferred to the 11th Light Horse Regiment on 22/2/1916. Having been restored to horse, on 20/7/1916 the Regiment joined the forces defending the Suez Canal. In April 1917 it moved into Palestine and took part in the Second Battle of Gaza on 19/4/1917. During the ensuing months it took part in various actions, including a charge on Sheria on 7/11/1917. (Robert spent ten days at rest-camp in Port Said in October 1917). After Gaza fell on 7/11/1917, the 11th Light Horse took part in the pursuit of fleeing Turkish forces. After rest and retraining in early 1918, the Regiment moved to the Jordan Valley. In August it retrained as a Cavalry unit, in preparation for action against the Turks on the coast of Palestine. On 25/9/1918 it took part in the Battle of Samakh, entailing fierce hand-to-hand combat. (Further information can be found in The History of the 11th Light Horse Regiment, Fourth Light Horse Brigade, Australian Imperial Forces, War 1914-1919, by Ernest Hammond, published 1942). Robert was killed in action on 25/9/1918, during the Battle of Samakh. He was originally buried on 26/9/1918 at Samakh Military Cemetery, beside Lake Galilee, but was later reinterred in grave B.56 at the Haifa War Cemetery in Israel and Palestine. He is commemorated in the Book of Remembrance at Peterborough Cathedral. He is also named on the Paston War Memorial at All Saints’ Church, Paston, Peterborough , and on Panel 8 of the Australian War Memorial . His death was announced in the Peterborough Advertiser on 5/10/1918. He left a Will, dividing his estate between his three sisters and his younger brother (also an Old Petriburgian), Jack Hamilton Pledger. George Pledger survived the War. He sustained a bullet wound to the thigh at Romani on 4/8/1916. He received the Military Cross on 7/9/1918, and was discharged from the Army on 10/9/1919. Pilot Officer Jack Hamilton Pledger died in an air-crash in Wiltshire on 4/4/1924. He is buried at Paston.
He is one of two Australian casualties of the Great War commemorated at King’s School. They are known as Petriburgians.
PETERBOROUGH CATHEDRAL - KING'S SCHOOL WAR MEMORIALS
Both the World War 1 and World War 2 memorials in respect of the ex-King's School Pupils and are to be found inside St Sprite’s Chapel within Peterborough Cathedral. The World War 1 memorial takes the form of a stone tablet with the name and arms of the school carved and painted within the pediment, with a green wreath and gold inscription beneath the names. There are 29 names listed of those who gave their lives. King's School was founded by King Henry VIII in 1541 as the Cathedral School to educate 'twenty poor boys' and is one of seven established, re-endowed or renamed, during the dissolution of the monasteries for the education of "twenty poor boys". To this day the school maintains close links with Peterborough Cathedral
SCHOLA REGIA PETRIBURGENSIS
"TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE OLD BOYS OF THEmKINGS SCHOOL PETERBOROUGH WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY
1914 - 1918
He is also on the Peterborough War Memorial
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