The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (377) Private Robert John Marcombe, 26th Battalion, AIF, 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 Sharon Bown, the story for this day was on (377) Private Robert John Marcombe, 26th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

377 Private Robert John Marcombe, 26th Battalion, AIF
Died of Disease 29 November 1915

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Robert John Marcombe.

Robert Marcombe, known as “Bob”, was born in 1896 to William and Fanny Marcombe of South Wales. He was born in the mining town of Treharris, north of the capital Cardiff, and was educated at the Pen-y-Graig public school. Bob’s father almost certainly worked as a miner in the Welsh coal mines, and was a very vocal activist for social matters in the valleys. He went on to serve as the secretary of the Treharris Labour Representation Committee, and president of the Mid-Rhondda Trades and Labour Council.

When Bob was around 14 years old, his oldest brother William left for Australia. William moved to Queensland, spending time in places Rockhampton and Mackay before settling in Mount Morgan. Meanwhile, Bob’s father’s health was declining, and in 1911 the Marcombe family made the decision to join their eldest son in Queensland in the hopes it would help William senior. Bob, his parents, and the remainder of his siblings arrived in 1913. The large family settled together at Mount Morgan, where Bob worked as a labourer.

Bob Marcombe enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in early March 1915, about seven months after the outbreak of war. He underwent a period of training in Australia before leaving for active service overseas with the 26th Battalion on board the troopship Ascanius in May 1915. By this time newspaper reports in Australia would leave him in little doubt as to what he would be facing when he arrived.

By the time Private Bob Marcombe had arrived in Egypt to continue his training, two more of his brothers, his eldest brother William and his next youngest brother Walter, had also enlisted in the AIF and were undergoing training in Australia.

The 26th Battalion landed on Gallipoli on 12 September 1915, a couple of weeks after the last major operations of the August Offensive had died down. Two days later Marcombe missed a parade, which earned him one day’s punishment, but otherwise his conduct on the peninsula was unremarkable.

Marcombe’s battalion had arrived as the summer was coming to an end, but the Anzac forces were still suffering with dysentery and other sicknesses that had been rife during the hotter months. By late November, with the nights becoming much colder and even snow threatening on occasion, Marcombe’s health was seriously suffering. He was evacuated from Gallipoli on 23 November 1915, suffering from jaundice and pneumonia.

Marcombe was taken to the base at Mudros, where his condition worsened and he was sent to hospital on Malta. Before he could get there, however, he died of pneumonia on board the hospital ship Gloucester Castle on 29 November 1915. Close enough to Malta to avoid being buried at sea, Bob Marcombe was laid to rest in the Pieta Military Cemetery near Valletta. He was 20 years old.
Bob Marcombe probably never received the news that his father had died less than two weeks before he fell ill. Rocked by the loss of her husband and son, Fanny Marcombe withdrew her permission for Walter to serve as a soldier under the age of 21, and he returned home. This may have saved his life. His other brother, Private William Marcombe was killed in action on the Western Front in June 1918.

The names of Bob and Will Marcombe are 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 Private Robert John Marcombe, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section