Robert Edward Birt was born on 18 November 1896 in Bermondsey, London. His parents were Robert and Elizabeth and he was one of four siblings. His father at the time was a tea merchant’s clerk and later a fruit and vegetable salesman. Robert Edward Birt attended Brentwood Grammar School.
On the 1911 Census his father Robert mischievously adds a note “Myself and family, 6 in all, leave England for Australia in May. Good luck!” The family arrived in Brisbane in July 1911 and the father took up work at a farm.
Robert Edward Birt’s Australian attestation papers show that he signed up for military service on 5 August 1915. His own occupation is stated to be a farmer, and on his Will as a farmer’s help. He joined the 5th Light Horse Regiment, embarked from Sydney in October 1915 and was then posted to Heliopolis in Egypt on 20 November 1915. Other camps included Maadi and Tel-el-Kebir.
Robert’s father records; "… attained Corporal’s rank, and when volunteers were required for Artillery, gave up his stripe and volunteered, passing his exam in a few weeks and was promoted to Bombardier."
Thereafter he joined the British Expeditionary Force (Anzac Section), embarking at Alexandria and disembarking at Marseilles.
In the course of 1916 and 1917, he was transferred between artillery brigades and divisional columns fighting in France and Belgium, finally transferring to the 11th Australian Field Artillery Brigade.
He was killed in action on 22 July 1917.
At a commemoration event at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra in 2013 the following account was given;
" … they were in action near the Belgian town of Hollebeke when Birt’s unit came under fire. A shell burst on the parapet of the trench as Birt and two other men, gunners John Ashhurst and Walter Carmody, were taking cover in it. All three men were hit by fragments of the burst and were killed instantly. Birt was buried beside his companions in Belgium. He was just 20 years old."
Bombardier Robert Edward Birt is commemorated at the Bus House Cemetery, Voormezele, West Flanders, Belgium.
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