The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Chaplain 4th Class Albert Edward Bates, Australian Chaplains Dept, First World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Meleah Hampton, the story for this day was on Chaplain 4th Class Albert Edward Bates, Australian Chaplains Dept, First World War.

Chaplain 4th Class Albert Edward Bates, Australian Chaplains Dept.
DOD 9 February 1919


Today we remember and pay tribute to Chaplain Albert Edward Bates.

Albert Bates was born on 18 May 1884, the eldest child of William and Christina Bates of Singleton, New South Wales. His father was a teacher at the public school in Vere for many years, and later went on to be principal of Belmont Public School in Newcastle.

Albert went on to attend Sydney University, and – like his father –qualified as a teacher. During his time at university he attended extra lectures and wrote honours essays in subjects such as psychology, history and English, beyond the requirements of his teaching course. He taught at Carrington Public school for about two years but resigned in 1905, the year after his father’s death, in order to become a minister with the Home Mission Department of the Presbyterian Church.

Bates returned to study at St Andrews Presbyterian College. In order to support himself while studying, he worked as a chaplain at the Waterfall Consumption Home near Helensburg. To get there he caught a train before walking up a steep mountain patch from the railway to the town, and lived in a small cottage several miles from the home. The story was later told that on his first night there he found a drunk man caught in some blackberry bushes, and spent most of the night trying to extricate him rather than going to his new home.

Albert Bates was described as “a born organiser” and a “true friend”, who “lived for his work … ready to lend a helping hand to another’s burden or to show sympathy to the helpless and incapacitated.” He had a “great force of character, with decided convictions on all moral questions and a fearless outspokenness that made him both feared and respected.” Fortunately, as his friend the Reverend Kingsley Partridge noted, “he had the saving grace of humour … [with] an inexhaustible fund of humorous stories and experiences.”

In 1914 Bates married Coralie Collins, and in November of that year he was formally inducted into the Presbyterian Church, taking up a placement at the recently established church at Ashford, near Glen Innes. He became a “prominent part in all public movements at Ashford, displaying qualities of citizenship of a very high order”.

Albert Bates’s brother, John Haddon Bates, was also a Presbyterian minister, and in 1915 he volunteered for the Australian Imperial Force. He served as chaplain at a training camp in Brisbane until a place could be found for him to serve as a chaplain overseas, leaving Australia in 1916. Two more of Albert’s brothers also served in the AIF.

Albert remained in Ashford for the bulk of the war, but in 1918 he decided to enlist. In May 1918 a large gathering was held at his church in Ashford to wish him good luck, and the congregation promised to take care of his wife while he was gone. Bates was accepted for service in the Australian Chaplains’ Department, and left Australia for active service overseas on 5 October 1918. He arrived in England within days of the end of the war.

With the majority of the Australian Imperial Force having to wait months for repatriation to Australia, Bates had plenty of work to do in supporting the men. For the next several weeks he worked at Administrative Headquarters in London, later moving to work at the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital in Dartford.

On 3 February 1919 Chaplain Bates reported to the hospital as a patient, having contracted the flu. His condition quickly worsened and he was diagnosed with pneumonia. He died at 9 am on 9 February, less than a week after being admitted to hospital.

In Australia “the largest congregation that the Ashford Presbyterian Church ha[d] ever known assembled in the sacred building on Sunday afternoon, March 16, to participate in a memorial service for the late … Chaplain Bates … People of all denominations attended and the immensely large congregation testified to the great love and respect with which the late chaplain was regarded.”

Chaplain Albert Bates was buried in Brookwood Cemetery in a full military funeral including a firing party, three buglers and a band in attendance. Numerous wreaths adorned the grave, and photographs were sent to his wife Coralie, who wrote “they are priceless treasures to me”. Today Chaplain Albert Bates lies under a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone bearing the words “he is not here but is risen”. He was 35 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Chaplain Albert Edward Bates, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section