Reginald Percy Bartram [1880 - 1917]

Reginald Percy BARTRAM 

was born in Richmond, Victoria, Australia in 1880 

to George Andrew BARTRAM and Isabella SHANDS.

Reginald enlisted in the AIF 
on 25 August 1916 at Royal Park.
service # 6955
8th Battalion, 23rd Reinforcement

He embarked from Melbourne on board 

HMAT A20 Hororata on 23 Nov 1916

Reginald Percy Bartram  

was killed in action in 

The Battle of Broodseinde at 

Passchendaele, Ypres, Belgium

on Thursday October 4 1917

As a boy, Reginald attended St James Grammar School in Melbourne and his occupation at the time of enlistment was that of a compositor.

He married Lucy Mary BOUGHTON (sometimes spelt as BROUGHTON) on 11 Jan 1905 at the Presbyterian Church in Richmond.

a little about Lucy.....

Lucy was born in December 1881 in Worcestershire, England, her parents being Ellen WYATT and William Blockley BOUGHTON, a surgeon. She married Reginald BARTRAM in 1905 when she was 23 years of age and bore him three sons:

Ernest in 1906, Reginald in 1908 and then William in 1910.

Now at this point I am unsure of why Lucy was admitted to the Mont Park Asylum in 1910 or maybe soon after the birth of William. Perhaps she suffered from Post Natal Depression?

as noted in a letter from Reginald BARTRAM to the Army Base Records in Melbourne on December 6 1916,  she had been at Mont Park for 7 years and there is a query as to where she died in 1964 at Ararat. Was she a patient of the Ararat Asylum too?

We also know that Reginald Bartram placed two of his sons in the Melbourne Orphan Asylum prior to his departure for overseas duty. The youngest child - William - died in 1925 and is buried at the Old Cheltenham Cemetery. I am still doing research on the two older boys, Ernest and Reginald.

According to one letter sent to the War Office in 1918 by Reginald's sister, Evelyn Constance DINGEY (nee BARTRAM) it suggests that she has the care of all three of them.

(as seen in images below)

and later in his Army Records it is noted that he has changed his 'next of kin' to his sister - Evelyn Constance Bartram

It is hard to imagine what these two young boys would have gone through ...... mother in the Asylum and had been for at least 7 years, their paternal grandmother had recently died, their father heading off to war and they were being placed in an orphanage - and to them, unloved and unwanted. So incredibly sad.  Yet the above letter suggests otherwise.

But I do wonder what happened to them and 

where they ended up?

even the memorial notice in the Argus Newspaper in 1919 "suggests" that the three boys were with Evelyn and her husband - William Dingley - at that time.

"dearly loved daddy of Ernest, Reggie and Willie"

In one letter from the AIF to Lucy (wife of Reginald) states the effects of Reginald's being disc, belt, photo case, letters, note book, cards,book of views, badges, testament were dispatched per the Barunga on 20th Jun 1918 in case number 1106.

But sadly, especially for his sons - on 15 Jul 1918 - the Barunga was hit by a torpedo from a German submarine 150 miles south west of the Scilly Isles and Reginald's personal effects were 'lost at sea'.

The Barunga was on its way to Australia with 800 sick and wounded on board and was torpedoed at 4.30 pm on 15 July 1918.

Destroyers which had been some miles away were quickly on the scene to pick up survivors and returned them to Plymouth. All hands were saved before Barunga subsequently sank.

SS Barunga was formerly the German-Australian liner Sumatra of Hamburg, captured at Sydney, NSW, at the outbreak of war. She was requisitioned by the Australian Government and during the period 1915 -1918 was used to transport troops and or produce in various areas.


OCTOBER 1917....

The battle in which Reginald was killed, was bloody and fierce and many an article can be found on the web of the Battle's of Broodseinde and Passchendaele.

The very day Reginald was killed, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Australian Divisions captured Broodseinde Ridge on 4 October 1917. 

It was a vital victory. But, then it began to rain. 

Five days later the 2nd Australian Division suffered heavily in a further attack in the mud. Finally, on 12 October, another attack, involving the 3rd Division assisted by the 4th, was made against the village of Passchendaele atop the main ridge. In the face of heavy fire, the men fought in the mire while struggling to keep up with their artillery barrages. Ground was taken but it could not be held. In wretched conditions, with casualties mounting at an appalling rate, the Australians had to fall back. 

The troops were finally exhausted and could do no more; by 15 November they handed over to the Canadians.

image above:
main image is of Reginald Percy Bartram

top right:
Machine gunners of the 4th Australian Division, Garter Point, 

Ypres, Belgium, 27 September 1917.

second from top:
Dead and wounded Australians and Germans 

in the railway cutting on Broodseinde Ridge, 

in the Ypres sector, Belgium, during the battle of Passchendaele.

lower right:
Broodseinde with four German shells exploding near the Australian trenches


The following image is of the Red Cross Missing in Action Cards from members of Reginald's Battalion in the hopes of identifying where he was buried.

*Bartram was killed by a shell which went right through him in Passchendaale.

*I was in the same advance. A shell exploded near casualty, killing him instantly.

*I did not see casualty killed, but I saw his body the same afternoon as I was going for water.

*He was at the Menin Road on 4th October, we attacked at daybreak. Bartram was laying in a shell hole on "no mans land".

above image
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL,
 Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

 Panel 7 - 17 - 23 - 25 - 27 - 29 - 31

Bartram Reginald Percy
K.I.A Thursday, 4th October 1917
    36yrs
Son of George Andrew and Isabella Bartram;
husband of Lucy M. Bartram.
Native of Richmond, Victoria.

........................................................................

I have often thought that many a youngster when he was hit out there 

on the Passchendaele heights and he knew that the end had come,

must have thought to himself:

“well at least they’ll remember me in Australia”.

C.E.W. Bean

Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean 

(18 November 1879 – 30 August 1968), 

usually identified as C.E.W. Bean, 

was an Australian schoolmaster, judge's associate, barrister  

journalist, war correspondent and historian.

Bean is renowned as the editor of the 12-volume
Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918. Bean wrote Volumes I to VI
himself, dealing with the 

Australian Imperial Force at Gallipoli, France and Belgium. 

Bean was instrumental in the establishment of the Australian War Memorial, 

and of the creation and popularisation of the ANZAC legend.

the three BARTRAM brothers were all killed in 1917

Arnold Roy BARTRAM d. 13 May 1917 France

Raymond Everard BARTRAM d. 07 June 1917 Belgium

Reginald Percy BARTRAM d. 04 Oct 1917 Belgium

click on each of the brothers for the blog posting
and a cousin of "The Bartram Brothers"

- Leslie Norman Krause -

we will remember them

UPDATE: 7th October 2013:
with further research have located some information on the two surviving sons of Reginald Percy BARTRAM.

Ernest George BARTRAM was born in Brunswick in 1906. In May 1921, according to the letter from Evelyn Bartram, Ernie Bartram was 'traveling' at the time the Army wanted to pass on his fathers medals. So perhaps he did not receive his fathers medals.

In the Electoral Rolls of 1937, I located one Ernest George BARTRAM as residing at 64 Union St, Prahran. But this is NOT CONFIRMED as being the same person.

In the Electoral Rolls of 1980, I located one Ernest George BARTRAM as residing at 17 Langston St, Bendigo. But this is NOT CONFIRMED as being the same person.

no further information on Ernest George BARTRAM has come to hand.

Reginald Arthur BARTRAM was born in Brunswick in 1908. I have not had much success in locating any information on him, but on checking the Electoral Rolls of 1937 I see a person by the name of Reginald Arthur BARTRAM residing on his own at 6 Alison Rd, Caulfield West. Then In 1980 a person by this name is residing alone at 8 Laburnum St, Blackburn.

So went back to the 1949 Electoral Roll and see a Reginald Arthur BARTRAM residing with a person by the name of Marcelle Louise BARTRAM.  I checked on this person and note that she was born in Malvern on 26 Aug 1909 and died at Blackburn on 26th April 1974.

There is NO CONFIRMATION that the Reginald Arthur BARTRAM is the same as the one I am looking for.

Admittedly the name BARTRAM is not common, and I doubt there would be anyone else by this name in Victoria, Australia.

But until I can confirm it, will leave it here to be noted only.

with grateful thanks to Robert Matthews for the extra help and guidance!

and to the National Archives and the
Australian War Memorial

for the data that is on their websites that is
invaluable to all genealogists.

UPDATE 22nd July 2014:

Reginald Percy Bartram's name will be projected onto the exterior of the Hall of Memory at the AWM in Canberra on:

• Thu 14 August, 2014 at 8:07 pm
• Sat 27 September, 2014 at 10:41 pm
• Wed 19 November, 2014 at 8:55 pm
• Tue 13 January, 2015 at 8:39 pm
• Sat 7 March, 2015 at 12:59 am
• Wed 22 April, 2015 at 3:47 am
• Tue 2 June, 2015 at 11:27 pm
• Fri 10 July, 2015 at 6:04 am

These dates and times are estimates. The actual time of projection could change as a result of weather and other factors, so it is advisable to check closer to the date. In the rare event of a temporary loss of electrical power, the names scheduled for display in that period will not appear until the next time listed.

...................................

Arthur Joseph Weir [1889 - 1916]

Arthur Joseph Weir was born on 6 February 1889 at Winiam, a small village in the western district of Victoria, Australia. 

His parents being:
Robert Weir [1860 - 1951]
Louisa Westendorf [1866 - 1950].

Louisa was born in 1866 at Nelson between Portland & Port MacDonnell on the Victorian coast. She married Arthur's father - Robert Weir - at Winiam in 1887.

Robert was born at Portland in 1860 and died at the age of 91 in 1951.

Louisa and Robert had eight children, two of their children - Frederick & Arthur - were listed as being killed in action during WW1.

Location of Winiam, Victoria, Australia

Arthur enlisted in Melbourne on 15th July 1915 at the age of 26 years and was granted the service number of 358. Arthur acknowledged his father - Robert Weir - as his next of kin.

He was added to the 29th Battalion - The 29th Battalion being raised as part of the 8th Brigade at Broadmeadows Camp in Victoria on 10th August 1915.

Another family member - Edward Harold Artso - also enlisted in the 29th Battalion and was KIA ~ 18th May 1918.

on 5th November 1915, The Battalion proceeded by three special trains to Melbourne where a route march through the principle streets took place. His Excellency the Governor of Victoria & Minister of Defence inspected the troops taking salute on the steps of Parliament House prior to their departure to the Middle East.

image is of the Ascanius at Port Melbourne on 10th November 1915

The HMAT Ascanius departed Melbourne on 19^th November 1915 bound for the Australian training camps in Egypt, where the AIF would undergo a doubling in size and reorganization after its withdrawal from the Gallipoli campaign.

plan of the HMAT Ascanius - November 1915

Training was continued on board ship, but with only 200 rifles being available for this purpose! While "at sea", along with other soldiers, Arthur was charged with the crime of 'gambling' and was cautioned!

By 7 December 1915, the Ascanius had arrived at Port Suez in Egypt where the troops disembarked. One week later the Battalion had received orders to move and proceeded to Ismailia by train.

While Arthur was in the Middle East, his brother - Frederick William Weir - enlisted on 17th March 1916 in the AIF at Horsham. He was in the 38th Battalion and departed from Melbourne on 20th June 1916 on board the HMAT Runic.

Arthur was bound for France on 14th June 1916 on board the troopship HMT Tunisian. One week later he had arrived at Marseilles with the rest of the 29th Battalion and was then transported by rail to Hazebrouk.

10 July 1916 the 29th Battalion were in Bois-Granier, northern France. This area was known as "The Nursery" because it was a relatively quiet sector and was used to introduce new troops to trench warfare.

The Battle of Fromelles (19–20 July 1916) was a British military operation on the Western Front during World War I, subsidiary to the Battle of the Somme. General Headquarters ("GHQ") of the British Expeditionary Force ("BEF") had ordered the First Army and Second Army to prepare attacks to support the Fourth Army on the Somme 80 kilometres (50 mi) to the south, to exploit any weakening of the German defences opposite.

The attack took place 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from Lille, between the Fauquissart–Trivelet road and Cordonnerie Farm, an area overlooked from Aubers Ridge to the south. The 29th Battalion took part in an attack against the Germans around Delangre Farm. The ground was low-lying and much of the defensive fortifications on both sides consisted of breastworks, rather than trenches.

The ruins of a brick chimney at Delangre Farm, the scene of severe fighting in the attack at Fromelles on 19 July 1916. Barbed wire entanglements in the foreground remain standing two years after the battle.

The 8^th Brigade was positioned on the northern end of the Australian attack line at The Battle of Fromelles. Arthur Weir was amongst the 5,533 Australian casualties from the disastrous attack on the heavily defended ‘Sugar Loaf’ Salient at Fromelles. At first Arthur was listed as MIA, but was soon reported as KIA.
 
Much has been written about the massive losses as well as the battle itself. Some of it can be seen here on Wikipedia. 

The Australian War Memorial states: The 8th Brigade joined the newly raised 5th Australian Division in Egypt and proceeded to France, destined for the Western Front, in June 1916. The 29th Battalion fought its first major battle at Fromelles on 19 July 1916.

The nature of this battle was summed up by one 29th soldier: “the novelty of being a soldier wore off in about five seconds … it was like a bloody butcher’s shop.”

A German propaganda postcard showing dead "English" soldiers (according to the German caption) arranged in a wooded area near Fromelles just after the battle of 19–20 July 1916.
The Australian War Memorial notes that many of the soldiers are already covered with groundsheets: eyelets from groundsheets (used to lower the bodies into the deep graves) were recovered from the Pheasant Wood site.

The aftermath of the battle, showing the bodies of Australian
men covered with blankets, 20 July 1916.

The battle at Fromelles was the only battle the AIF fought in the Western Front that failed to produce a positive response. Much of the blame was placed on poor planning and execution of the British High command, supposedly "professional" soldiers.

C.E.W. Bean recounts;

“We found the old No-Man’s-Land simply full of our dead,” he recorded. “The skulls and bones and torn uniforms were lying about everywhere.”

With their ID discs removed, the remains were unidentifiable. They were buried in an unmarked, common grave in what is now VC Corner cemetery.  The names of all those lost are engraved on a series of tablets across the back of the cemetery. 

Large numbers of soldiers were not accounted for.  On the left flank, the 8th Brigade penetrated the German lines looking for a supposed second line of trenches.  Instead all they found was a muddy ditch and having over-extended, and with their right flank exposed by the failure of the neighbouring Brigades to neutralise the enemy machine guns, they were enfiladed, progressively cut off and destroyed piecemeal in counterattacks and clearance actions by the German defenders throughout the night and early morning of the 20th July.  Many had been killed or captured  behind enemy lines, mainly from the 8th Brigade.  The dead - including Arthur Weir - were were buried by the Germans.The body of Arthur was later recovered and it was not until the research of amateur historian Lambis Englezos that the clue to his possible burial place was revealed. Nineteen members of the 29^th Battalion were listed amongst the 175 missing diggers from the Battle of Fromelles.

Included in the Red Cross files were copies of the German death vouchers completed by the German army when they cleared their trenches, after the battle, and the subsequent appearance of the names on German death lists. (see below)

This provided Lambis with the vital clue to where these soldiers had been buried. The second vital clue was the documentation stating that the identity discs of the soldiers had been returned to their families.

fallen soldiers were removed from the battlefield by the Germany Army and transported by light rail systems.

Useful websites when researching those who went to war; www.naa.gov.au www.awm.gov.au www.aid.adfa.edu.au www.cwgc.org www.dontforgetthediggers.com.au www.mappingyouranzacs.naa.gov.au www.findagrave.com - See more at: http://shazlex.blogspot.com.au/search?q=weir#sthash.yy8UZTAn.dpuf

Useful websites when researching those who went to war; www.naa.gov.au www.awm.gov.au www.aid.adfa.edu.au www.cwgc.org www.dontforgetthediggers.com.au www.mappingyouranzacs.naa.gov.au www.findagrave.com - See more at: http://shazlex.blogspot.com.au/search?q=weir#sthash.yy8UZTAn.dpuf

The Australian soldiers had been taken to the field adjacent to Pheasant Wood where they were placed in pits and lay undetected for nearly 92 years.

Photo: Pheasant Wood excavation trench

In 2007, The Australian Army commissioned Glasgow University Archaeological Research Department (GUARD) to undertake non-invasive surveys to assess the likelihood of burials having taken place at Pheasant Wood, and whether the ground had been disturbed by subsequent recovery.  The excavations have confirmed the presence of a significant number of human remains, consistent with the German accounts of the burials of Australian and British soldiers in the pits at Pheasant Wood.

..... on 13 March 1917 the identification disc (of Arthur Weir) was received from Germany. No particulars afforded except that the soldier is deceased.

To be reported as KILLED IN ACTION ~ FRANCE

from Arthur Weirs Service records

A J WEIR - 358 - German Documents

Translation of German Death Voucher rec'd 29 October 1919

The list of 75 Australian soldiers whose remains were recovered from the burial pits at Pheasant Wood and whose identities have been established by the Fromelles Joint Identification Board was released on Wednesday 17 March 2010. One of those being Arthur Joseph Weir:

In the Nhill Newspaper on 3rd April 1917 the following notice appeared.  His parents had been officially informed of his death nine months later.

The Weir family placed this 'in memoriam' notice in the Nhill Newspaper dated 20th July 1917.....

The family suffered further loss with Frederick William Weir (brother to Arthur) being killed in action on 13th October 1917 in Belgium. 

The following is the headstone - that was ordered on 26 March 2010 - for Arthur Weir

Fromelles, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

Date of burial unknown ~ buried at Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. 

Headstone was ordered 26 March 2010.

Identified (March 2010) and released for public notice on 5th August 2010.

The remains of Arthur were identified in March 2010 and the results were released for public notice on 5th August 2010.

Arthur Joseph Weir's name will be projected onto the exterior of the Hall of Memory on:

• Fri 8 August, 2014 at 8:06 pm
• Sun 21 September, 2014 at 10:40 pm
• Wed 12 November, 2014 at 4:05 am
• Tue 6 January, 2015 at 1:09 am
• Sat 28 February, 2015 at 2:03 am
• Thu 16 April, 2015 at 7:30 pm
• Thu 28 May, 2015 at 5:31 am
• Sun 5 July, 2015 at 4:53 am

These dates and times are estimates. The actual time of projection could change as a result of weather and other factors, so it is advisable to check closer to the date. In the rare event of a temporary loss of electrical power, the names scheduled for display in that period will not appear until the next time listed.

LEST WE FORGET

So far have located THREE family members that were at the Battle of Fromelles on 19th July and they are

Arthur Joseph WEIR
Edward Harold ARTSO
George Bowden HUDSON

further may come to light as I continue to 'dig'!

Other websites of interest:

• Edward Harold Artso
• Another Brick in The Wall
• Australians on the Western Front
• VC Corner - Fromelles
• Trench Warfare - Battle of Fromelles
• Pheasant Wood Cemetery - mass burial site
• Family and Friends of the First AIF
• Fromelles ID Profiles - 17 March 2010
• Australian War Memorial
• National Archives of Australia
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission

In particular would like to extend my grateful thanks to the AWM, CWGC and the NAA for allowing us access to their amazing collections!

I use all the above sites to gather further information for my Military History blog posts.

The following Facebook pages maybe of help to others:

Fromelles Descendant Database
Our Fromelles Obsession
Fromelles


.

www.naa.gov.au www.awm.gov.au www.aid.adfa.edu.au www.cwgc.org www.dontforgetthediggers.com.au www.mappingyouranzacs.naa.gov.au www.findagrave.com - See more at: http://shazlex.blogspot.com.au/search?q=weir#sthash.yy8UZTAn.dpuf

www.naa.gov.au www.awm.gov.au www.aid.adfa.edu.au www.cwgc.org www.dontforgetthediggers.com.au www.mappingyouranzacs.naa.gov.au www.findagrave.com - See more at: http://shazlex.blogspot.com.au/search?q=weir#sthash.yy8UZTAn.dpuf