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Name

Position on Roll

Rank

Service Number

Unit

Place of birth

Date of birth

Enlisted

Place of death

Date of death

Age at death

Where buried

Penrose, Robert Mowforth*

C5-10

Private

3559

49th Bn Australian Infantry, Australian Imperial Force

(given as Loyal North Lancashire Regiment on Roll of Honour)

Bolton, Lancashire

1896

3 July 1915, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Messines, Belgium

7 June 1917

20

Not Known - listed on Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium

PENROSE - Killed in action June 7th, 1917. Private Robert Mowforth Penrose, dearly loved eldest son of Thomas and Margaret Penrose, Brisbane, Australia (late of Chorley Old-rd., Bolton.)

"The country called, he answered and gave his all. At rest."

Eye witness account recorded 2 August 1917 - Pte James Wray 2264 - 49th Bn Australian Infantry:

"I saw Penrose at the fall of the hill coming down from Messines two stretcher bearers where with him. I stopped to ask them where he was shot and they told me, he was shot straight across the chest, from one side to the other, he was very blue in appearance, and the stretcher bearers said he was shot in the heart. I had to leave them and I am not sure if they carried him in, but they had put him in a shell hole. The ground was taken and kept by us."

"Yes, Penrose was clearly dying, though not dead, as he asked faintly for water."

Eye witness account reorded 23 August 1917 - Cpl A W Fraser 3552 - 49th Bn Australian Infantry:

"Penrose was killed by a sniper at Massines on June 7th. He was shot in the forehead and killed instantly. He came over from Australia with me."

*Robert Mowforth Penrose is listed as Robert MORFORTH Penrose in Australian Imperial Force records and on the Australian War Memorial.

He is described on his initial medical report as being 19 years 3 months old, 117 lbs, 5' 4 ½" tall with blue eyes, light brown hair and a fair complexion. He had five vaccination marks on his right arm. His religion was Church of England. Before enlisting he worked as a ship's steward and was in the Royal Australian Navy Reserve.