Roberts, Ernest Ambrose

Transcription

1 Roberts, Ernest Ambrose Nulla A.S.C Cemetery: Shell Green Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey War Grave Register notes: ROBERTS, Tpr. Ernest Ambrose, th Light Horse. Killed in action 17 th Sept Note from following Role of Honour card, no school was given. Our History lists and Cunneen (quoted below,) indicates also, The King s School. Note school history and above official summary has him in 7LHR. Note from copy of record below, he was absorbed into this unit from 12LHR, at Anzac 29/8/15; slightly wounded 3 rd Sept. and was killed 17 th Sept. totaling some 20 days service. As mounted troops, the Light Horse was considered to be unsuitable for work in Gallipoli. The mounted troops volunteered to operate as infantry. Because of the level of casualties at Gallipoli, the 12th Light Horse Regiment was broken up on 26 August 1915 with squadrons being allotted to other Regiments as reinforcements. "B" Squadron* became "D" Squadron, 7th Australian Light Horse Regiment. The various squadrons of the Regiment were deployed on primarily defensive activities throughout the stay at Gallipoli. The various squadrons of the 12th Light Horse Regiment left the peninsula during December 1915.

2 Australian Light Horse Studies Centre * Roberts left Sydney with B Squadron 13/6/15 on HMAT Suevic. THE LAW AT WAR (1916) Tony Cunneen Bathurstian Vol. 111 No. 12 Dec 1888

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8 Trooper E.A. Roberts will always stand as an example of fearless and clear sighted devotion to duty A solicitor with a large practice, nevertheless, he cheerfully surrendered his position and prospects to take his place as a private in the ranks. Though better known as an Old Boy of T.K.S. Parramatta, of which school he was a prominent member of Council. Nulla Roberts received the first eighteen months of his education at All Saints College. In every branch of sport he made a name for himself, but particularly this was so in the sphere of Rugby football. Here he attained international fame. Later on in life he was well known as a prominent golfer. At the time of his unfortunate, but glorious death, he was acting as censor and also a secretary to Colonel Abbott of whom he was a personal friend. Bathurstian, June P.8. THE LAW AT WAR (1916) Tony Cunneen The men in the trenches were under continuous shellfire and the constant battering weakened the defences. Tragically one victim in the 12th Light horse of this ceaseless gunfire was the middle aged solicitor from Wagga - Ernest Roberts. He was a friend of the Colonel Abbott, not surprising considering their common legal background and work as country solicitors. Roberts was rotated through the usual trench routine but on 17 September he was fatally unlucky. According to witnesses he had fired his rifle over the sandbags then ducked down to reload. While doing this he was shot through the head either through a loophole in the parapet or through a sandbag which had been weakened by the constant peppering of gunfire. His sergeant wrote that the grey haired Roberts was a great favourite (and) his death caused quite a gloom At the time of the trial Pring was also a Governor of The King School, and President of its Old Boys Association. As such he was party to the universal grief, which met the flurry of tragic telegrams, which came after Gallipoli, Fromelles and Pozieres. He had attended memorial services to ex-students killed in action. Some of the men killed, such as the barrister Charles Edye Manning, were well known to him. Charles Edye Manning had been Secretary of The Kings School Old Boys Association at the same time as Pring was its President. Two other lawyers from The King s School had also been Secretaries of the Old Boys Union: the charismatic Ernest Ambrose Nulla Roberts and Alan Mitchell. Both of these men had died at Gallipoli. Pring had attended Roberts memorial service in the atmospheric stone chapel at The King s School. P.14 Memorial Service at T. K. S. Honoring: the Name of Nulla' Roberts. IN MEMORIAM. EBNEST AMBBOSE ROBERTS (Nulla), Trooper, 12th Light Horse, A.I.F KILLED IN ACTION AT GALLIPOLI, September 17, 1915 On Sunday evening a memorial service was held in The King's School Chapel in relation to the death of, Ernest Ambrose Roberts as a dlstlnguished1 and well known Old Boy, ex-sports champion and member of the school Council who died on the field of battle at Gallipoli.

9 There were present at the service numbers of the relatives of the late Mr. Roberts and a great many Old Boys of the historic School, Is any other man whoso loss would have' stirred a more Instant thrill of sympathy or been more- widely and generally felt. It was not merely that he had done so much for the School. Though since the day he came as a boy he had been a prominent figure---- he had a personality. He impressed himself upon people's attention.... When I came to The Kings School as a boy Nulla Roberts was the hero of it. The boy at the time seemed to sum up what a boy of The King's. School could and should be. Everyone knows how -Dr. Harris liked him.... I wish to take this most public way of placing on record the great and powerful share that Nulla Roberts had in anything that I, as Headmaster, have been able to do for.the old School. 1 have lost a great helper and I am sore and sad with the loss of a close, intimate friend. When Nulla had decided to go on the great adventure I was chaplain of the 12th L.II.in camp, and saw him there constantly. Colonel Abbott made him his private orderly. But the Colonel, told me, Nulla had said to him, 'But if there's a scrap I want to.be in it.' That was like him; and, alas, alt too soon, a bullet found him. And we who have seen him at football well know that it would be in the middle of the hottest, fight that he would be found. Yet in camp I noticed a change in him. He was very thoughtful.. I think he was reviewing his life in an altered mood. When I held the farewell service for the 12th; the Sunday before they left) I gave Nulla a short prayer. He put it in the lining of his hat, and said he would carry it with him. In that spirit I leave his memory he was our friend; not even when he is dead. I think that if Nulla had come back, educated by the grim discipline of war and danger, he would probably have come back to us even further advanced on the way to stainless manhood than before he left us.... S.M.H. 18/12/15 At a meeting of Ihe King s School council the following resolution was passed, on the motion of Archdeacon Gunther: 'The council of The King's School having heard with much regret of the death of Mr. E. A. Roberts, offer his widow and friends their sincere sympathy. ' They recognize that he rendered very efficient service for many years as treasurer, and also showed practical interest in the progress of the school, and much appreciate the way in which he responded to the call of duty to serve his King and country at the Dardanelles.' A special memorial service will be held at the school. The Bathurst Times 10/11/15 P.2. The man himself is revealed in his photograph. To those who knew him and loved 'Nulla.' Roberts his soul shines out of his steadfast, loyal fear less eyes, his character is stamped in the bold determined lines of mouth and chin. Old Bathurstians of the 'eighties and early nineties will call to mind many a dashing exploit on the football field by this most brilliant of Bathurst footballers. Speedy, powerful, resourceful, agile he played games as he played the great game of life with all his heart and strength. And now 'Nulla' has played his last great game on earth, the greatest of them all, and, as always, he played it fair and played it regardless of self. The sympathy of all goes out to his mother who had lived for over 45 years in our city and to all the members of his family. That grand old mother is bearing her great grief with the proud pain of a true British mother and has yielded her son to the cause of honor and righteousness with a noble resignation. There are many who recall the high spirited.lad (always with a strong dash of mischief in his make-up) in the days when he was a school boy at All Saints' College and was first exhibiting the prowess for which he was to become famous on larger

10 fields. He passed on from All Saints' College to the King's School, Parramatta, whore he soon took a position of leadership. In the words of one who was a contemporary, For us long as I can remember 'Nulla' was the idol of the School. The nickname 'Nulla' was one of those mysterious names given in school days of which the origin was unknown; but it really became a term of pride and affection and for twenty-five years he been universally known by it. He was an interstate footballer from , and was generally admitted to be one of the best, three-quarters who over donned a jersey. The present Headmaster of the King's School writes of him. 'When I first came as a schoolboy to T.K.S., Nulla was the hero of it the typical T.K.S. boy to be proud of. And I never lost that feeling about him. No headmaster ever had a more loyal supporter than Nulla has been to me. I have lost an intimate friend more than a helper a comrade and friend. Nulla was utterly manly and sound.' Nulla Roberts passed out from school life to enter the legal profession, and just twenty years ago he was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. When the war broke out he was over straining upon the bonds that kept him at home. He was eager to get away to servo his country. There were many reasons why he might have been content to stay. He was 43 years of age, he had a wife and two children, he had an aged mother who looked to him for advice and comfort, he had a valuable professional business at stake. His friends held him back for ten months. But at length he burst from all restraint and said he must go. It was the falling-off in recruiting that made him decide. He recognised that tens of thousands should go before a man in his position The young single men will not go and so an older and a married man like myself had better be an example, and it may shame some of thorn into doing their duty. In a country that had a rational policy of universal service such strain upon the conscience of a patriotic man and such unequal sacrifice while younger end freer wore sheltered at home would not be tolerated. It was typical of the man that having made his decision he insisted upon making the sacrifice complete, and upon going in a private again with the thought of example in his mind. And now he has made the supreme sacrifice. He got to the front just at the end of August; was slightly wounded on September 2nd; but was back in the trenches in a day or two, and was slain on the 17th September, He had made up his mind that lie was going to die for his country, and felt he would not come back. Mrs. Abbott, wife of the Colonel of his regiment, writes: I was talking to him on the day the 'Suovic' left the harbor. He said he hoped he would come back, but felt he would not. Mrs. Abbott goes on to say. My husband and I thought it so grand of Nulla to go into the ranks, but he was always such a man. It would be impossible to mention all the tributes to Nulla Roberts one has heard and read. Suffice it to say thst they all agree in the loving recognition of his noble qualities of true manliness, real loyalty and steadfast desire; to serve to the utmost of his power. Of such great-hearted sons Australia should indeed be proud, and it will al ways be the glory of the city of Bathurst that we have sent some worthy to take their places in the front ranks of Australia's best. Some families give their all. Mrs Roberts

11 has given her son. And on the news of his death, her grandson writes as he loaves for the front also. I am the only one of the family left now to go and I will do my very best. This young lad is now upon the waters. Nulla Roberts had such a gift for winning the affection of men that strong men have not hesitated to tell of how they shed tears when the news of his death came through. May our country never forgot the dauntless heroes who counted no sacrifice too great for her, who cared not that they died if she lived, that they fell is freedom stood. By 'AMICUS.' The Bathurst Times 30/10/15 P.3 AWM The Roll of Honour contains the names of all the men known to have served at one time with the 12th Light Horse Regiment and gave their lives in service of Australia, whether as part of the 12th Light Horse Regiment or another unit.