World War I Commemorative Website

War Memorial Hall  c1929

Memorial Hall circa 1929
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Robert Ray FERGUS

FERGUS

Robert Fergus was born on 27 March 1890 in Cheltenham, Victoria. His parents were Reverend Robert Morrison and Elsie Caroline (née Ray) Fergus. He attended Scotch from 1904 to 1905.

Robert was a clerk when he enlisted on 24 July 1916 in Brisbane, Queensland. He served in the 8th Field Artillery Brigade and Australian Army Pay Corps with the rank of Corporal. His Regimental Number was 34615.

Robert died on 6 August 1920 at Heidelberg, in the military ward of the Austin Hospital. He was 30 years of age.

Service record

At 5 feet 6 inches (165 cm), Robert was relatively short. On enlistment he was initially allotted as a Private to a Depot Battalion. After a few weeks he was assigned to reinforcements to the 26th Battalion, then after a month at a school, went to reinforcements to the 52nd Battalion. In December 1916 he was transferred to the Artillery as a Driver. He sailed with artillery reinforcements from Melbourne on 21 June 1917, but was with reinforcements until 24 November 1917, when he finally joined the 31st Battery of the 8th Field Artillery Brigade in France. He served with them until the Armistice, but went on two weeks’ leave from 13 November. On 26 November he was hospitalised in England with influenza.

The Scotch Collegian suggests that he had developed chest trouble, aggravated by gassing, which is plausible: for example, from 17-24 April 1918 Australian Field Ambulances treated some 1,700 gas casualties. The article also suggested that his leave, in wintry Scotland, did not help his health. At the end of November or early in December 1918 Robert was transferred to the Army Pay Corps, in which he served in London as a temporary Corporal for much of 1919. He was in hospital again from 5 October to 3 November 1919. For the voyage to Australia, leaving on 14 November, he was made a Temporary Sergeant. It should have been a happy time, but at Fremantle, Western Australia, when on 14 February 1920 he was due to reembark for the trip further east, he was too sick to continue. The diagnosis was ‘pulmonary tuberculosis’. His father visited him there and the military authorities allowed Robert to be brought overland to Victoria. Robert spent a week in the Caulfield Hospital before being transferred to the Austin Hospital (military ward) in Heidelberg, where ‘he quietly passed away’ on 6 August 1920. 

In his will, reproduced in his service record, Robert bequeathed his war gratuity to his clergyman father and his sister (rather than his wife) ‘as a return for many services and especially for money expended by them in bringing me from Western Australia to Victoria in my weak condition after my return from the War.’(see below)

Robert Fergus is buried in the Geelong (Eastern) Cemetery, Victoria.

Photographs and Documents:

fergusRR

Robert Fergus is in the left hand side of this photograph of members of the 31st Battery of the 8th Field Brigade at Vieux Berquin, France on 25 January 1918. Unfortunately it is not possible from the existing caption to see which soldier he is.

fergusRR

Robert Fergus’ will from 1920.

Sources:

  1. Australian War Memorial – Roll of Honour
  2. Mishura Scotch Database
  3. National Archives of Australia – B2455, FERGUS R R
  4. Scotch Collegian 1920
  5. The AIF Project - https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=95982

Page last updated: 11 November 2015