Name
Robert Blanchard
1887
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
04/10/1917
29
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
784
Australian Infantry, A.I.F.
22nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 23
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Digswell House Australian Hospital Memorial, St John's Church, Digswell
Pre War
Robert Blanchard was born in October 1887 in Grmsby, Lincs, England, the son of Henry and Margaret Blanchard.
On the 1891 Census the family were living 28 Grafton Street, Clee With Weelsby, where his father was a Blacksmith. They had moved to 16 Park Street, Clee, Lincs by 1901.
He arrived in Australia aged 24 and worked as a Clerk. He and his wife Philomena C Blanchard lived at Tara, Paling Street, Brighton, Melbourne, Victoria. His wife later lived at 57 Aisling Street, Brighton, Victoria.
Wartime Service
He enlisted on 15 February 1915 as a Private with the 22nd Battalion, 'D' Company.
His unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria on board HMAT A38 Ulysses on 10 May 1915 and saw service in Egypt, Gallipoli and the Western Front. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on 2 August 1916 and was killed in action on 4 October 1917 at Broodseinde Ridge, Passchendaele, Belgium.
His body was not recovered for burial or not identified and his name is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
aif.adfa.edu.au
