Bennet, Robert Avenal (1338)
Place of Birth: Avenel, VIC
Age: 25 years
Enlistment Details: Monday, 17 August 1914 – St Kilda, VIC
Service Number: 1338 view online service record
Address:
151 Heath Street
Port Melbourne, VIC
Next of Kin:
Nellie May Bennet (wife)
151 Heath Street
Port Melbourne, VIC
Embarkation Details:
Date: Tuesday, 20 October 1914
Ship: HMAT Shropshire A9
Port: Melbourne, VIC
Unit: 2nd Field Artillery Brigade – Brigade Ammunition Column
Fate:
KIA: Thursday, 4 October 1917
Place: Belgium
Awards: MC
On his enlistment papers, Robert’s middle name and place of birth Avenal however the place is actually spelt Avenel. It may be that his middle name should also be spelt with an ‘e’ rather than an ‘a’, however we have not made this change.
Lieutenant: 13 Field Artillery, killed in action 4 October, 1917, Belgium, age 31, The Huts Cemetery, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium.
Parents: Norman Francis and Agnes BENNET, wife: Mrs Nellie May BENNET, born Avenel. Bennet enlisted as a 25-year-old electrician with his address as Murrumbeena, but his wife at 151 Heath Street, Port Melbourne, later in Derham and Graham Streets before moving to Murrumbeena, probably his parents address. Shown in some places as BENNETT; awarded Military Cross, gazetted Australia 24 January 1918.
Additional research by Brian Membrey
1 Comments
Brian Membrey
“I was with Lt. Bennett (13 Bde., 51 Btty) when he was killed instantaneously about Oct. 4th at “Westward Ho” on the Ypres Front. We were at the Gun Position. I was on the gun and he was coming up to assist some wounded men when he was hit by a shell and fell. An attack was going on at the time. I think part of Passchendaele Ridge was taken that day. I helped to bury Lt. Bennett two days later in a big military cemetery at Dickiebush, beside the Hospital. There was cross put up with all particulars. A Chaplain read the Service (I have forgotten his name0. Myself and three others were there”.
Description. “I believe from Melbourne and married; out a long time, young, a splendid man, a perfect gentleman, very much liked, given Military Cross”. (Gunner Charles V Brunt, 2586, 13 Bde. Field Artillery, 51 Battery)