Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

The Gallipoli Campaign was fought on the Gallipoli peninsula 25th April 1915 to 9th January 1916. in a failed attempt to defeat Turkey by seizing the Dardanelles and capturing Istanbul. Ill-conceived and planned, the initial effort by the Royal Navy failed to force passage through the Dardanelles by sea power alone. It was then realised that a land force was needed to support the project by suppressing the Turkish mobile artillery batteries. By the time all was ready the Turks were well aware and well prepared. Despite amazing heroics on the day of the landings only minor beachheads were achieved and over the succeeding 8 months little progress was made. Eventually the beachheads were evacuated in a series of successful ruses.

Despite Gallipoli rightly becoming a national source of pride to Australians and New Zealanders, far more British casualties were sustained, and these days the substantial French contribution is almost forgotten.

Detail :

JOHN POWE ROBERTS LIEUTENANT, 9TH AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY REGIMENT John ROBERTS was an English born 32 year old married man who on the outbreak of war immediately applied for a commission which was granted. He had 12 years experience in the Durham Light Infantry and was a sanitary engineer by profession. Bean in his Official History (p 494) tells us "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." Bean records his death as 26th April but the Australian archives show that Lieutenant John Roberts of D Company 9th Battalion was buried by Chaplain S Green on 25th April. The archives include a letter from his wife Sarah to the Australian Army stating that she was destitute as no insurance or pension could be paid to her until a death certificate was provided. She also asks for information on a 2/Lieutenant Percy Adsett of A Company 9th Battalion who had been given £10 by her husband. She later writes to confirm that 2/Lieutenant Adsett had forwarded the much needed money. (Adsett had his service terminated in Aug 1917 due to Neurasthenia (shell shock) following transfer to 49th Battalion, having been wounded on the Somme on 3rd September 1916. He had to pay his own passage home to Australia from England. In Oct 1967 he applied for the Anzac commemoration medal and badge)

Masonic :

John was a Freemason and joined Lodge Temperance No 2557 meeting at the Old Assembly Rooms in Newcastle Upon Tyne in June 1909 at 27 years of age. He was a plumber living at 16, Armstrong Street, Dunston on Tyne, Gateshead. John was proposed by Bro Robert Charlton and seconded by Bro William Barker at the regular Lodge Temperance meeting held on 17th May, then a month later on the 21st June, after a successful ballot, he was initiated into Freemasonry. He was passed to the second degree on the 16th August and raised to the sublime degree of a master mason on the 20th September. He signed and received his Grand Lodge certificate in open lodge at the meeting held on 20th December 1909. He remained a subscribing member until his death in April 1915.

At the regular meeting of Lodge Temperance held on 16th August, 1915 the Worshipful Master W.Bro. John Armstrong announced that he had received a letter from Mrs Roberts, widow of J. P. Roberts informing the Lodge that her husband had been killed in action in the Dardanelles on April 25th. The Worshipful Master on behalf of the officers and brethren instructed the Treasurer to send a letter of condolence. The brethren stood in sympathy.

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley
• Researcher : Peter Walker - Temperance Lodge No. 2557
• Website : Temperance Lodge No. 2557