John Robert RAPPELL

RAPPELL, John Robert

Service Number: 455
Enlisted: 24 August 1914
Last Rank: Quartermaster Sergeant
Last Unit: 1st Field Artillery Brigade
Born: Maryborough, Queensland, Australia, 29 February 1876
Home Town: Waverley, Waverley, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Packer
Died: Haberfield, New South Wales, Australia, 2 August 1939, aged 63 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Rookwood Cemetery & Crematorium
Memorials:
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World War 1 Service

24 Aug 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Battery Quartermaster Sergeant, 455, 1st Divisional Ammunition Column
18 Oct 1914: Involvement 455, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Argyllshire embarkation_ship_number: A8 public_note: ''
18 Oct 1914: Embarked 455, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, HMAT Argyllshire, Sydney
21 Mar 1918: Discharged AIF WW1, Quartermaster Sergeant, 455, 1st Field Artillery Brigade

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Biography contributed by Claude McKelvey

John Robert Rappel (Rappell) was born on 29 Feb 1876 at Maryborough, Queensland, a son to Joseph Rappel and Catherine Sinclair Rappel (nee Tulloch). He married Margaret Troy on 11 Mar 1904 in Queensland. Sometime later they relocated to NSW where they were living when he enlisted in 1914 for WW1. Margaret passed away in 1930 at Rockdale, Sydney, and he remarried in 1935 to Adele E. Gibbins at Ashfield, Sydney.

He served twice in the South African (Boer) War under the name Rappel and again in WW1 under the name of Rappell. First service was as a Private (rising to Sergeant) S.N. 216 in the 4th Queensland Imperial Bushmen, Boer War. Second service was as a Sergeant S.N. 7 in the 7th Battalion, Australian Commonwealth Horse, Boer War. Third service was as a Quartermaster Sergeant S.N. 455 in the 1st Field Artilery Brigade AIF, WW1. All of his pre-WW1 services are noted on page 1 of his WW1 Attestation Paper and on his Boer War Dossier (2nd service) on page 5 of his WW1 service record held by National Archives Australia.

(sources- AWM Boer War Nominal Roll, Murray p. 483 and 531; National Archives Australia- Boer War Dossier and WW1 service record).

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