SERVICE PERSON RESEARCH

SERVICE PERSON DETAILS

Service Person’s Name / John Powe Roberts
Rank / Lieutenant
Service Number / N/A
Regiment/Unit or
Ship or Squadron / 9th Australian Infantry Battalion
Date of Birth / 18 October 1882
Place of Birth / Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, England
Family Details / Next of kin – Sarah Ann Fisher (wife)
Parents –
Arthur William Roberts
Jessie Hannah Mainwaring
Siblings –
Arthur William Roberts
William Henry Roberts
Jessie Maria Roberts
Alfred Horatio Roberts
George Augustus Roberts
Herbert V. Roberts
Adrian Alexander Roberts
Septimus Mainwaring Roberts
Sidney Ernest Roberts
Age at Enlistment / 32
Place of Enlistment / Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
Date of Death / 25 April 1915
Place of Death / Gallipoli, turkey
Cemetery or
Memorial Name / Walker’s Ridge Cemetery
Grave or Memorial
Number / Sp. Mem. 19

PHOTO:

Source: Sydney Mail, 1915

SERVICE PERSON’S STORY/EULOGY:

Prepared by Jayde Milliner


A hero is someone who ‘has found or done something beyond the normal range of achievement and experience. A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself’. Quoted by Joseph Campbell, who better to fit this description than an unselfish individual who gave himself for the greater good – John Powe Roberts.

He was a man who came from simple beginnings. Born in Jarrow, England, October 1882, he was born into a large family of nine children. In June 1904, he married Sarah Mallen who, in August 1911, departed Liverpool upon the Suffolk with John and one of his brother’s, Septimus, in search of a new life in Queensland, Australia. Upon arrival, John settled with his wife in Flint Street in North Ipswich working as a sanitary engineer. It is believed they had one child whilst in Australia.

When war broke out in 1914, John, who was 32 at the time, enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and was noted to have had 12 years of previous service in the Durham Light Infantry - an infantry regiment of the British Army where John served as Sergeant. On 28 August 1914 John was assigned 2nd Lieutenant of the 11th Infantry Battalion; though, about five months later was appointed Lieutenant of the 9th Infantry Battalion.

John embarked on the Omrah with about 1104 other men and women in late 1914 on route for Egypt. The ship arrived in December where the 3rd Brigade remained at the Mena Camp for training purposes. Months later, John was a part of the numerous battalions that landed in Gallipoli between 4.30am and 4.45am on 25 April 1915 – the day we now acknowledge as Anzac Day. It was on this day he was killed in action – one of the many hundreds of casualties. Charles Bean, who was accredited as Australia’s official war correspondent throughout the Gallipoli campaign, and who later notably became an official war historian, declared, “While the forward parties in Owen’s Gully were fairly protected, those in the old trenches in The Cup were losing heavily. The shrapnel enfiladed the trench and pattered on the overhead cover of the gun-pits. Near the tents, Lieutenant Roberts - the life of the 9th Battalion - was killed.”

Subsequent to his death, he was acknowledged with the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory medal for his efforts.

Benjamin Disraeli once said, “The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example”. Soldiers like John Roberts, are great examples of courageous men who should inspire us in our everyday life.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Ancestry 2015, John Powe Roberts, http://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi- (accessed 26 January 2015)

Australian War Memorial 2015, 11th Australian Infantry Battalion, https://www.awm.gov.au/unit/U51451/ (accessed 26 January 2015)

Australian War Memorial 2015, 9th Australian Infantry Battalion, https://www.awm.gov.au/unit/U51449/ (accessed 26 January 2015)

Australian War Memorial 2015, Australian fatalities at Gallipoli, https://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/gallipoli/fatalities/ (accessed 26 January 2015)

Australian War Memorial 2015, John Powe Roberts, https://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1652779/ (accessed 26 January 2015)

Australian War Memorial 2015, Roll of Honour - John Powe Roberts, http://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1652779/ (accessed 26 January 2015)

Chanel, S. (2014). 15 Powerful Quotes of War in Honor of Memorial Day, http://www.babble.com/mom/15-powerful-quotes-of-war-in-honor-of-memorial-day/ (accessed 26 January 2015)

Department of Veteran Affairs 201, January - April 1915, http://www.anzacsite.gov.au/5environment/timelines/australia-gallipoli-campaign/january-april-1915.html (accessed 26 January 2015)

Lodge Temperance 2015, Lieutenant John Powe Roberts, http://www.lodgetemperance.org.uk/roberts-j-p-lieutenant/ (accessed 26 January 2015)

Martin, M. 2015, A Brief History of the 9th Battalion, http://www.9bnassoc.org/page17/page7/index.html (accessed 26 January 2015)

Museum of Victoria 2015, S.S. Omrah, http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/374393/postcard-s-s-omrah-orient-royal-mail-line-gibralter-1899-1918, (accessed 26 January 2015)

National Archives of Australia 2015, John Powe Roberts with wife Sarah at Pinkenba, http://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/gallery/2559 (accessed 26 January 2015)

National Archives of Australia 2015, Roberts, John Powe, http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=8033385&isAv=N (accessed 26 January 2015)

North East War Memorials Project 2015, Every Name a Story Content, http://www.newmp.org.uk/article.php?categoryid=99&articleid=1421&displayorder=27]

(accessed 26 January 2015)

State Government Victoria. (2015). John Powe Roberts. Retrieved January 2015, from ANZAC Centenary: http://anzaccentenary.vic.gov.au/embarkation/john-powe-roberts/ (accessed 26 January 2015)

Sydney Mail 1915, Gallipoli Album, May 1915, Sydney Mail, Sydney, New South Wales p 6.

The Wartime Memories Project - The Great War 2015, Lt. John Powe Roberts Australian Imperial Force 9th http://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/view.php?uid=215632 (accessed 26 January 2015)