HENRY, Robert Edward

Robert Edward Henry was born in Northern Ireland in 1879 and was 35 and 4 months old when he joined up in 13 March, 1915. By then, he was living in Melbourne with his brother, William Liggatt Henry. They were the sons of  Samuel Dugeon and Emily Ellen (nee Liggatt) Henry. The brothers were both accountants by occupation and lived at 332 Albert St., East Melbourne. Robert Henry was a tall man for the ime, 5' 10" and had served in the military previously, first with the 55 B Senior Cadets , probably at school in Northern Ireland, then with the Ulster Yeomanry, and again with the Traansvaal Volunteers. It was probably the Boer War that gave him the scars from gunshot wounds on his left shoulder. 

Robert Henry was placed with the 13th Light Horse, 3rd Reinforcements. Formed at Broadmeadows in March, 1915, they were also called the 'Devil's Own' because of the 'unlucky' number. The 13th Light Horse departed from Melbourne in 28 May, 1915, disembarking in Egypt  on 29 June. There were twenty-five officers and 497 other ranks, divided into 8 sections, each of four men. Their first taste of war was at Lone Pine (6-10 August), where they fought as infantry alongside the New Zealand troops. Two months later, in December, 1915, the ANZAC troops were withdrawn from the Gallipoli Peninisula by stealth, and returned to Egypt.

By now, Robert Henry was an Acting Sergeant, but when the 13th Battalion was attached to the Camel Transport Corps, he reverted to Trooper. The Camel Corps was the means by which supplies and goods were taken to those at the Egyptian front, an important role. On 16 July, 1917, Robert Henry was detached from the Camel Corps and sent to the School of Instruction Tel-el-Kebir to do a gas course. He must have done well, because on 22 July, he was classified as a 1st Class Gas Instructor, rejoining 'G' Company that day.

Robert Henry came down with Myalgia on 29 December, 1917, and only returned to active service after a month at a Rest Camp at Port Said. On 25 March, 1918, he was discharged from the AIF to take a commission as 2nd Lieutenant with the Royal Army Service Corps, joining the Egyptian Camel Transport Company. He remained in this position until the armistice, returning to Australia with the rank of Lieutenant on 12 June, 1920.

In that year, he went back to live in St Kilda, at 30 Crimea St. He got a job with the Rhode Motor Cycle Company in Russell St., Melbourne as a clerk and married the same year, to Sophie Dora Batson. By 1925,  the couple was still at the same address in St. Kilda and he was working as an accountant. Something must have gone wrong though. In 1936, he was working as a labourer, by 1937 he was a wool presser and in 1942, a wool worker. The Electoral Rolls do not show Sophie at the same addresses in the 1930s, but she was with him in 1942.  

Robert Henry died in 1956 at his home in Caulfield, aged 77. His death notice appeared in The Argus on 28 August:

Henry - On August 26, at his home, 44 Jupiter St., Caulfield, Robert Edward, dearly loved husband of Dora,  late Boer War and 1st AIF  - so mote it be

He was buried at Brighton Cemetery, following a service at Bathurst Memorial Chapel.