Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Irvine Julius BARTON was born on 4th January, 1895 in Ipswich, Queensland

His parents were Leslie George BARTON and Alice Eleanor CRAIN who married in Queensland in 1893

He had previous service in the Cadets before he enlisted for WW1 in Brisbane on 2nd September, 1914 - he embarked on 24th September, 1914 with the 2nd Light Horse Regiment on the HMAT Star of England

He died of wounds on 5th April, 1918 and is buried in Warloy Baillon Communal Cemetery Extension

The inscription on his headstone reads

"LOVING SON & BROTHER TRUE, WHILE LIFE LASTS WE FONDLY THINK OF YOU"

His name is memorialised on the Australian War Memorial - he also received the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal & the Victory Medal & the Military Cross

From François Berthout

Lt Irvine Julius Barton

52nd Australian Infantry Battalion

 
More than a hundred years ago, in the trenches and the battlefields of the Somme, a whole generation of men, in the mud and through the barbed wire fought with bravery and devotion under the fire of bullets and shells, under the roar of the cannons which have now disappeared and have given way to a serene and peaceful silence in which, under a radiant spring sun, these young men who gave their today and their lives for our tomorrow rest in peace among the ranks of their graves between which roses and poppies grow in harmony that remind us of what so many men, heroes, did and sacrificed for us and that we will always honor with the greatest care, with love and respect so that they will never be forgotten.

Today, it is with the greatest gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these men, one of my boys of the Somme whose life was taken too early,I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Lieutenant number 129 Irvine Julius Barton who fought bravely in the 52nd Australian Infantry Battalion and who died of his wounds 103 years ago, on April 5, 1918 at the age of 23 on the Somme front.
Irvine Julius Barton was born on January 4, 1895 in Ispwich, Queensland, and was the son of Leslie George Barton and Alice Eleanor Barton (née Corcoran) who married in Queensland in 1893. Irvine was educated at the Brisbane Normal School Boys and after graduating he worked as a farmer and lived with his parents in Enoggera, Brisbane, Queensland.Before he enlisted, he served in the Cadets.

Enlisted in Brisbane, Queensland, on September 2, 1914 as a Private in the 2nd Light Horse Regiment, A Squadron,the 2nd Light Horse Regiment was raised at Enoggera in Queensland on 18 August 1914. Its recruits came mainly from Queensland but some hailed from the northern rivers district of New South Wales. The 2nd was one of three regiments of the 1st Light Horse Brigade,the first Australian mounted formation raised by Australia during the First World War.On September 24, 1914, Irvine embarked with his unit from Brisbane, on board Transport A15 Star Of England and sailed for Egypt where he received intensive training and was then sent to join the Military Expeditionary Force on the Gallipoli peninsula where he arrived on the 9th May 1915 and where he fought bravely. Two months later, on July 1, 1915, at Anzac, Gallipoli Peninsula, he was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal and the following month, on August 20, to the rank of Sergeant. Three months later, on November 14, he embarked for Mudros, Greece, then a month later, on December 27, he embarked on the Ionian and was sent to Alexandria, Egypt, where he was disembarked on January 14, 1916 and was deployed with the 2nd Light Horse Regiment to protect the Nile valley from bands of pro-Turkish Senussi Arabs.

After courageously defending the Nile Valley, Irvine and the 2nd Light Horse Regiment played a significant role in turning back the Turkish advance on the canal at the battle of Romani on 4 August. In ensuing days the regiments of the brigade participated in the immediate follow-up of the defeated Turks, but were soon withdrawn to rest.Three months later, on November 23, 1916, he was sent to Moascar Camp, Egypt and on November 27, he embarked with his regiment on board Minewaska for England then for France and was disembarked at Etaples on January 11, 1917 and on January 22, he was transferred to the 52nd Australian Infantry Battalion.A month later, on February 6, 1917, he was promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant and was sent to an instruction school then on April 7, he was admitted to hospital suffering from eczema before being sent back to school instruction where he was accidentally wounded whilst collecting grenades and was evacuated but his wounds were slight.

On July 1, 1917, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and on December 20, 1917 he was able to join his battalion on the front and fought with great bravery in the Bassevillebeek sector, Flanders, and was awarded the Military Cross with the following citation:

"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. When as one of a reconnoitring patrol, he was lying concealed well within the enemy outpost line, by the light of a hostile flare he saw a party of eight of the enemy approaching. He allowed them to come within a few feet of his position and then summoned them to surrender. Revolver fire was opened on them and a bomb thrown, resulting in four of the enemy being badly wounded. He displayed coolness, dash, and military judgment of the highest order".

After Flanders, early in 1918, Irvine and the 52nd Australian Infantry Battalion were sent to the Somme, in the Dernancourt sector, near the town of Albert, to counter the German spring offensive, once again he fought with great courage but it was near Dernancourt that on April 5,1918,he met his fate.
On April 4, 1918,while in reserves to the battalion at Dernancourt, he was recalled to join the lines and on his way up, he was hit by a machine gune bullet just above the knee and travelled up the thigh into the abdomen wounding the main artery of the thigh and was evacuated to the 13th Casualty Clearing Station at Warloy-Baillon, Somme, where despite the greatest care, he died of his injuries the next day, April 5, 1918 at 1:45 pm, he was 23 years old.

Today Lieutenant Irvine Julius Barton rests in peace at Warloy-Baillon Communal cemetery Extension, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription "Loving son and brother true while life last we fondly think of you".

Irvine, you who fought, always in the front line, with courage, bravery and determination on all the battlefields of the great war, Gallipoli, Flanders, then here, on these sacred lands of the Somme on which, together, so much of men shed their blood on the red poppies of Remembrance that grow between the graves of a whole generation of heroes, I would like, from the bottom of my heart, with the highest respect, with gratitude, to say thank you for all that you have done, for your country Australia which has here, a very large place in our hearts, in my heart but also for France, for my country which is today and will always be yours, a country that you knew little, but for which, alongside your comrades and your men, you did so much and for which, with the greatest courage, with love, gave you your youth, your future.in the trenches, in the mud and blood of the battlefields, in the cold, under the bullets and shells which rained down on you, it is with strength, courage and perseverance that you have led your men into the heart of the battle , always in front of them to guide them and to encourage them to give the best of themselves but also to comfort them in difficult times as a father would for his boys, to protect them from danger and, in the dark, give them the strength and courage to advance under bullets, through barbed wire, in the fury of a world at war that was consumed by flames and drowned in a thick fog of poisoned gas, through rains of metal screaming tearing the sky and falling to the ground in rains of mud and blood.I am sure that your men who were as young and brave as you were proud and honored to be guided by a man as brave and valiant as you who, day and night, fought with heart and energy under storms of fire and steel for the men who were next to him and who also fought for freedom, for justice, for his family, guided by convictions which gave him the strength and the courage to advance through this hell on earth and who, for just causes, for the love of his country, gave his today to offer a better future to the world,united in brotherhood, unity and camaraderie, they overcame the horrors of war and it is together, guided by you Irvine, Sir, that they went over the top, under the whistling of bullets and the roar of cannons lugubrious and interminable, together, they charged with heroism through no man's land, through soils devastated by death and deadly machine-gun fire. Until the end of the road, until the last moment of their lives, they showed the courage of a whole generation which was mown in the fields of the Somme, on the eternal poppies on which, side by side they fell after having done all they could, Soldiers and officers, all served with the greatest of bravery and fell knowing that their sacrifices would not be in vain and that thanks to them, future generations like mine would know a world at peace and for all they did I would be forever grateful to them.I would always watch over each of these men with respect and love, always with pride and emotion, always with respect and gratitude to tell them, by sharing their stories, that they have not been forgotten and that they will never be forgotten , under the rows of their white tombs, in our hearts and in our thoughts, they will never cease to live.These men gave their lives for us and I would give them mine to be remembered, to bring them to life and put their names in the light of the history they wrote in gold letters,I would always have for them, the greatest devotion, they are and will always be my heroes, my boys of the Somme.Thank you Irvine,for everything.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.