Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

The details provided are taken from the book "Stealth Raiders - a few daring men in 1918" written by Lucas Jordan, published 2017, refer to pages 105 and 268. Prior to the war he was a butcher of South Yarra. He enlisted 13th July 1915 aged 25 years. He served with the 5th Infantry Battalion, rising to the rank of Lance Sergeant, surviving the war and departing the UK for home 20th Dec 1918.

In 1902, at age 12, Ernest joined the Menzies Hotel in Melbourne as a pageboy. In 1912 he got a licence to drive a hire-car and once back from the War in 1919, he again drove hire-cars, but returned to the Menzies in 1941 as Commissionaire.

One of the “most fabulous” characters he met he says was the Sultan of Johore who wore diamonds between his teeth and sovereigns for waistcoat buttons. He resigned from the Menzies on October 5, 1954, but was seen days later commissionairing outside the Chevron Hotel, St. Kilda. (The Herald, Melbourne – Tuesday October 5, 1954, page 3 and Wednesday October 13, 1954, page 9 respectively). See link on page for original transcript.

Ernest’s grandfather, Louis Jacobé, arrived in Melbourne from Darmstadt, Germany on December 26 1853, aboard the “Countess of Yarborough"; aged 27.

Louis was a master butcher and settled in North Melbourne.

On February 12, 1861 Louis Jacobé married Dorothea and they lived at 10 Arden Street, Hotham Hill (now known as North Melbourne) and later, in 1882, Louis and Dorothea lived at the butcher’s shop at 256 King Street Melbourne.

Henry Jacobé, was their first born on December 21, 1861. Henry took over his father’s flourishing butcher shop in North Melbourne. Henry married Elizabeth and they lived at 18 Chetwynd Street and 256 Franklin Street West Melbourne.

Deliveries of bulk meats were carried out by horses and carts through the laneway, where the shop existed. The laneway became known locally as ‘Jacoby’s Lane’; a street name that still exists in North Melbourne today. The name Jacobé had origins from France/Germany and had originally been spelt with an ‘e’ acute. It is pronounced ‘Jacobay’ and is often misspelt; ending in ‘ y ’ or ‘ i ’, and we think that the Laneway was named after the family. Henry changed the European spelling of Jacobé, by dropping off the ‘e’ acute; thereby allowing the family to blend into early Australian wartime society.

Although Australian by birth, the local customers considered Henry to be German; blaming him for the 1914-18 war and vented their protests by daubing and breaking the shop windows. Henry’s father Louis, had left Europe due to religious persecution; he and his family then were persecuted by the Australians’ of the day. As a result they were forced to close the business.

Ernest William Jacobe was born to Henry and Elizabeth on April 13, 1890 and went on to fight for Australia in the 1914-1918 Great War. This fact holds a certain irony, given the sentiment shown towards him and his family.

My Dad says that Ernest had a twin brother named Frank. Apparently, when Frank was working in the butcher shop in Melbourne while Ernest was abroad, he felt the pain from the wound his brother Ernest had suffered to the arm at Broodsedine Ridge.