GOTTS, Rex Elmo

Rex Elmo Gotts was born in Geelong, Victoria in 1889, the son of Isaiah Alfred Gotts and his wife, Margaret Josephine, nee Riley. He  was one of twelve children, eight boys and four girls, and the youngest of the three brothers who volunteered for World War 1: Rex Elmo, Roy Stanley and William Alfred. Roy was in the Mercantile Marine when he enlisted, having had nearly six years experience. He damaged his knee while with the army in Egypt and the inability to put weight on the leg saw him returned to Australia. William had already had six years in the Garrison Artillery. He served with the 6th Battalion in the Dardanelles where he was wounded, then served with the 65th Battalion.

Rex was twenty-seven and a half and single when he signed up and lived at 76 Richmond Terrace, Richmond. His future wife, Rubina Elizabeth Hitchman lived at 30 Berry Street, East Melbourne, suggesting that it might have been a boarding house where she was to live while he was away. Their first child was born in 1917 and they married on his return in 1919 and were to have three children: Lillian Rubina Gotts (1917-2000); Rex Alfred Gotts (1920-1942) and Eric John Gotts (1922-2001). Rex Alfred Gotts died while serving in Wordl War 11 as a Sergeant, the result of a bombing raid by the Luftwaffe in Nysted, Denmark.

Rex enlisted on 6 July, 1916. He was 27 years old, single, Church of England by religion, and a fitter by trade. He had attempted to enlist at an earlier date, but been rejected as a result of a weak chest. Because of his trade skills, he was placed in the 2nd Reinforcements of the 2nd Pioneer Battalion. and embarked on HMAT Karoo on 18 September, 12916, landing at Plymouth ion 15 November. From Plymouth, he marched in to join the Pioneers Training Battalion. The Pioneer Battalions were created to develop and enhance protection and mobility for troops at the very forward edge of the battlefront.They were primarily engaged in building and construction established and maintained roads, tracks, trenches, duckboard paths and bunkers, barbed wire fences in No-Man's Land, established and maintained communication lines, maintained roads and bridges and any other tasks which were needed. On 5 April, Rex Gotts and the other reinforcements were sent to France out of Folkestone, and then on to the battlefront where they were taken on strength on 9 April 1917.

On 5 May, Rex Gotts was wounded, with a gunshot wound to his left arm. He was sent to hospital at Etaples, rejoining his battalion on 24 June.  The wound may have influenced his course of action: on 12 July, while in France, he underwent a test in mechanics for the Australian Flying Corps, to serve with 165 Squadron at Ablainzville (?). on 2 August, he was transferred from the 2nd Pioneers to the Australian Flying Corps, marching in to the A.F.C. Training Depot on 4 August. He must have proved satisfactory because he was taken on strength on 27 August, 1917, at Halton Camp, near Farnborough, Engand. On 14 March, 1918, he was promoted to Corporal  at the Training Depot and in May, was sent to Rumstead as Corporal Mechanic EDP. 

He returned to Australia on 5 May, 1919, on board the Kaiser - i -Hind, disembarking at Melbourne on 16 June and was finally discharged from the AIF on 24 July, 1919.  In 1919, he was back in Richmond, living at 3 Highett St., and working as a fitter. In the 1922, the Electoral Rolls list him as an engineer, living with his wife, Rubina at 101 Buckingham St., Richmond. By 1924, they had moved to Northcote, to the corner of Mitchell and Main St. In 1934, they had found their family home, 237 Mitchell Street, Northcote, where they were to live until at least 1968, with Rex working again as a fitter. After this, they drop off the Electoral Roll. Rex Elmo Gotts died in 1970, probably at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital.