Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Bert Horton reported that he had been born Rockdale, NSW to parents William and Elizabeth Horton. When he reported for enlistment at Bundaberg on 22nd July 1916, Bert was 25 years old and married to Isabel Horton. Bert and Isabel had a daughter, Noleen.
 
Bert stated that he had served in the 15th Australian Light Horse (a citizens forces unit) and his occupation was carpenter. It is reasonable to assume that Bert worked at various locations along the light rail line that extended from Childers to Dallarnil and he was well known in the farming communities along the line.
 
Bert travelled by train to Enoggera where he was placed in a depot battalion for initial training. In August 1916, he was taken on by the Depot Signalling Company where he no doubt trained in various signalling disciplines. On 1st November, Bert was formally taken on strength as a signaller in the 6th reinforcements of the 41st Infantry Battalion, part of the 11th Brigade of the 3rd Division AIF.
 
Prior to his embarkation for overseas, Bert made out his will in favour of his wife. Isabel and daughter Noleen went to live with Mrs J. Thompson in Murgon, who may have been Isabel’s mother. Bert allocated four shillings from his daily pay of five shillings to his wife. The 6th reinforcements travelled by train to Sydney where they boarded the “Demosthenes” on 23rd December 1916; disembarking in Plymouth on 3rdMarch 1917. The long sea voyage via the Cape of Good Hope was necessary to avoid the threat of German submarines in the Mediterranean and the Bay of Biscay.
 
The reinforcements proceeded to the 11th Brigade Training Battalion at Larkhill for further training before deployed to Belgium on 19th September. Upon arrival in the battalion lines, Bert was transferred from the 41st Battalion, a Queensland battalion into the 44th Battalion which was made up of West Australians. The transfer necessitated the addition of the letter A to his regimental number.
 
The campaign in Belgium which had begun at Messines in June 1917 had progressed with a number of battles eastwards from the town of Ypres towards the village of Passchendaele. For its part in this grand strategy, the 11th Brigade was put into the fight at Broodseinde Ridge in early October. The generals were fortunate with the weather in those early battles but by the middle of October, the low lying swampy ground of the battlefields were turned into a sea of stinking, clinging mud with the arrival of unseasonal flooding rains. Men, horses and wagons became stuck in the mud. Artillery sank into the ooze after the firing of a single shot and had to be man hauled out.
 
As the Flanders campaign floundered, Douglas Haig made a decision which condemned him to history when he ordered that the assault on Passchendaele should continue, whatever the cost. It was obvious to the field commanders that the conditions were exhausting their troops even before they reached the front line areas but Haig continued to order assault after assault, all of which bogged down.
 
On 15th October, the 44th battalion was ordered up to the line at Broodseinde Ridge to hold a position already won. Of the 992 men of the 44th who went into the frontline, only 158 returned unharmed. Nearly 800 men had been killed, wounded or were missing. For Bert, this was his first action and unfortunately, he sustained gunshot wounds to his abdomen.
 
Bert was taken from the battlefield to the rear areas behind Ypres at Poperinghe where he was treated at a Casualty Clearing Station. A series of telegrams were sent to Isabel at the address of Mrs Thompson advising her of Bert’s condition, which initially seemed to be improving. Five weeks after being wounded, Bert’s condition began to deteriorate. He was loaded onto a hospital ship and despatched to the London General Hospital where he “took a turn for the worse.” He died of his wounds on 14th December 1917. Due to the apparent improvement and then sudden deterioration, the authorities arranged for a post mortem to determine cause of death, following which, Albert Horton’s death certificate was amended to read “gun shot wounds abdomen, perforated bladder.”
 
Bert was buried at Brookwood Military Cemetery near the village of Pirbright in Surrey with full military honours including a firing party, bugler, wreaths and an Australian Flag draped over the coffin. The ceremony was also attended by two cousins who lived in England. A wooden cross was erected above the grave.
 
The official telegram informing Isabel of Bert’s death was sent to Murgon where a minister of religion would have been asked to deliver the sad news, but Isabel and her daughter had moved to Sandgate with Mrs Thompson. The first Isabel heard of her husband’s death was to see his name in the casualty lists of a newspaper. On 24th December, Isabel sent a telegram to base records from Sandgate: “published in newspapers here signaller horton two eight two three died wounds is this true reply.” It is to be hoped that the reply included an apology, even though it would appear that Isabel had not informed the authorities of her new address.
 
Isabel received the balance of Bert’s deferred pay and was granted a pension of two pounds per fortnight. Noleen received a pension of one pound per fortnight. Isabel received a parcel of Bert’s personal items which included a hairbrush and comb, wristwatch, 2 pocket knives, a fountain pen and a cloth draughts board. When the Imperial War Graves Commission began to erect permanent limestone headstones, Isabel chose as an inscription:
HE LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS