Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Robert Abercrombie was born in Warialda, NSW. He was the son of Robert Abercrombie (1815-1895) and Jane Martha Bordman (1832-1908). Aged 43, he enlisted in Toowoomba, QLD, where he was working as a Drover. He joined the 5th Reinforcements, 2nd Australian Remount Unit, on 1 October 1915. He listed his next-of-kin as his sister, Ella Loveday. The two Remount Units, 1st and 2nd, had been formed the previous month to free up Light Horsemen who had been detailed to stay behind in Egypt to look after the horses when the Light Horse had been sent to Gallipoli as infantry. The Remount Units were looking for men with knowledge of horses or who had a horse-related skill such as blacksmithing or saddlery. As a Drover, Robert knew his way around horses. They generally wanted older men who wouldn’t be suited for frontline service and initially had an upper age limit of 50. However, it was later found that the work of training horses in the desert was more severe than anticipated, and a number of older men could not stand the work and the climate.

The two Remount Units each comprised four squadrons. However, by the time the units arrived in Egypt, the evacuation of Gallipoli was imminent. With the Light Horse Gallipoli veterans now back with their horses, the initial reason for the formation of the two Remount Units was removed. Accordingly, on 27 March 1916, the Director of Remounts for British forces in Egypt decided to reduce the 1st and 2nd Australian Remount Units to one unit. Each unit contributed two squadrons to form a single Remount Unit. The men not selected for inclusion in the new unit were either transferred to other units, or, if deemed unfit for further service, were returned to Australia.

The unit Robert had joined no longer existed. He was still yet to embark from Australia. However, in the AIF, once things were put in motion, like the raising of reinforcements in Australia for a unit overseas, it took time for the decision to break up the unit to filter along the lines of communication back to Australia. Consequently, 2794 Private Robert Abercrombie and fifteen other men appear on the embarkation roll for the 2nd Remount Unit, 5th Reinforcements, which left from Sydney, NSW, aboard HMAT A47 Mashobra a week later on 5 April 1916. There were also a group of horses destined for the Remount Unit aboard Mashobra.

Robert was made Acting Corporal on the voyage, the only man of the 5th Reinforcements to be given this promotion. Why was he made Acting Corporal over the other men? He wasn’t the youngest. That was 2742 Private David West Watson, aged 26. He wasn’t the oldest. Both 2740 Private James Kearney and 2745 Private Robert James Mulligan were aged 50. It probably wasn’t because he had more horse management experience than the other men. A look at the occupations of the others shows most with jobs that involved being around horses, including farmer, carter, groom, horsebreaker, hostler, overseer, station hand, and stockman. It wasn’t because he had previous military experience and the other men had none. He had never served in His Majesty’s forces, whereas 2741 Private William Bray stated he had four years as a Rifleman, 2793 Private James Geary had spent 14 months in the Victorian Artillery, and 2792 Private Albert Gould said he had been with the Queensland Imperial Bushmen (although I can find no record of this service). Potentially, he demonstrated leadership ability, was seen as having initiative, and was responsible. Whatever the reason, he reverted to Trooper on joining his unit at Tel-el-Kebir, Egypt, on 27 May 1916.

Later in the year, on 4 September 1916, the unit was further reduced to a headquarters and two squadrons to comply with the British Establishment of a Remount Depot. Each squadron was to have three officers and 196 other ranks. Although the work to carry out these instructions began immediately, it took another month for this to be completed, and it wasn’t until 7 October 1916 that Major General Harry George Chauvel, GOC AIF in Egypt, approved the selection by the Commandant of the Officers, NCOs, and men for the new depot. Those not selected were sent to the Details Camp at Moascar. Robert Abercrombie remained with the Remount Depot.

On 23 August 1916, Captain James William Boyes and 60 Other Ranks were sent to Salonika in charge of a shipload of 600 mules. This was the first time anyone in the ARU was sent overseas with animals. Robert Abercrombie’s service records do not indicate he was part of this group.

On 9 April 1917, a new site for the Australian Remount Depot was selected close to the Railway Station and Supply Depot at Moascar.

On 8 June 1917, the results of a medical examination saw two officers and 261 men deemed fit for service in fighting units. As a result, the two officers and 176 other ranks volunteered for fighting service.

On 28 October 1917, Robert was temporarily attached to the Field Remount Section at Rafa. His squadron commander, Major Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, commanded a conducting party that took 150 horses from Moascar to Rafa, arriving on 29 October 1917. There were several conducting parties sent at that time as the Desert Mounted Corps was undertaking operations in southern Palestine. Beersheba was attacked on 31 October 1917. Robert rejoined the unit just over two weeks later, on 14 November 1917. On that day, the Australian Remount Depot war diary recorded that there was not a single fit horse at the depot, as all the fit ones had been sent forward to replenish the fighting regiments. In total, 352 horses and 35 mules were dispatched to the front in November 1917. The replacement horses that replenished the Remount Depot’s stock were 345 American ones.

On 8 February 1918, Robert was deprived of 14 days' pay for conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline. While on guard duty at the Blacksmith shop at Moascar on 6 February 1918, he allowed a stranger to enter the shop. This happened to be the same day that Brigadier-General Clarence Leonard Bates, Director of Remounts for the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, visited the depot.

On 2 April 1918, Robert was sent to Belah from the Remount Depot at Moascar. He was back in Moascar 10 days later. He had been there with 50 other ranks from the depot, under the command of Lieutenant Henry Samuel Tyndall, assisting in the construction of a Temporary Remount Depot to accommodate a large number of horses. This was a result of units handing back their horses when they were sent to the Western Front as reinforcements after the launch of the German Spring Offensive.

On 9 September 1918, Robert was sent to Ludd for seven weeks. The War Diary recorded that 139 horses, 11 mules, and 16 Palestine-bred horses were marched out to No. 1 Remount Depot in Kantara en route to Ludd, with Lieutenant Norman Charles Brown in charge. Robert was one of the 30 other ranks on this assignment, and they were to stay at Ludd until further notice. At the time, Ludd (now Lod, near present-day Tel Aviv) was the forward depot for horses resupplying the Anzac Mounted Division.

On 29 October, he returned from Ludd after seven weeks with the Remount Section there. On this day, the Remount Unit received orders to ascertain how many NCOs and Troopers were willing to volunteer for fighting units for the Light Horse. This report shows how suddenly the war ended. The fact that they were combing rear area units for men for the fighting regiments the day before the Ottomans signed an armistice, suggests that there was a view that the war was likely to continue for some time. When the Ottoman Empire signed an armistice on 30 October 1918, the war diary does not mention the end of the war. Nor does it in the days after. The next day, 49 NCOs and men volunteered for the Light Horse, as well as 26 men who were in the isolation camp suffering from malaria, in response to the call for men for the fighting units.

Despite the Remount Unit supplying replacement horses for the Light Horse in Palestine, the war diary never mentions the war's end with Turkey. However, on 12 November, it records the signing of the Armistice with Germany.

On 22 December 1918, Robert was sent to hospital after experiencing bruising on the outside of his left foot when he was kicked by a horse. This kept him away from the unit until 19 January 1919.

Accidents in the AIF required an investigation to ensure they weren’t self-inflicted to get a man out of the front line. Although the war was over, procedure needed to be followed, and statements were taken from Robert Abercrombie and those who saw the accident.

1701 Lance Corporal Harold Starky provided the following evidence: ‘I was with a parade of two horses on 22-12-18. The horse on the inside of the preceding section swung right round and kicked Abercrombie. In my opinion, it was not Abercrombie’s fault. He was on duty at the time.’

The statement was taken by Major Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson (1864-1941), who was the commanding officer of the 2nd Remount Squadron. His signature appears on the statement in Robert Abercrombie’s service papers. Major Paterson was the poet Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson in civilian life.

At the end of 1918, the Remount Unit had 653 horses and 250 mules in the depot. The numbers had grown because demand for horses from other units had declined with the end of the war. In February 1919, the Remount Unit received hundreds of horses no longer required by the Anzac Mounted Division. These were allowed to run loose in kraals built by the men.

However, in March 1919, the local Egyptians rose in revolt against the British, requiring the Remount Unit to reissue the horses previously handed in from the Anzac Mounted Division. The Remount Unit’s war diary becomes very short after this period. It records the names of officers returning to Australia, and others marched in as replacements from Light Horse Regiments. On 1 April, Major "Banjo" Paterson left the unit for embarkation to Australia. The war diary also records the movement in and out of horses and mules. By the end of June 1919, 1,129 horses, 466 mules, and three donkeys were in the Remount Unit.

On 3 July 1919, instructions were received from the Director of Remounts that all animals had to be out of the depot by 19 July. The following two weeks saw the movement of all the animals out of the depot. On 25 July 1919, the war diary records that Lt. Colonel Charles Henry Bourne, Captain Richard Alderson Frost, and 16 other ranks marched out to Kantara as the advance of the unit for embarkation to Australia. The next day, Major Tyndall, five other officers, and 232 other ranks, including Robert, marched out of the unit to Kantara for Australia aboard HMT Burma.

Robert Abercrombie returned to Australia aboard HT Burma on 26 July 1919. He was discharged in Brisbane on 25 October 1919.

Post-war, he married Edith Evelyn Sunners on 17 March 1928. He died in Brisbane on 18 March 1939.