Lieutenant Colonel Robert SCOBIE Clicking on Photo will return to Page S - T

SCOBIE Lieutenant Colonel Robert (Commanding Officer) (Queen's South Africa Medal & 5 Clasps. Mentioned in despatches) Headquarters, 2nd Battalion, Australian Imperial Force Born 31 March 1871, at Oakhampton, near West Maitland, NSW [Birth certificate: NSW 1871 12494] Educated: Maitland Superior Public School & Maitland Boys' High School NSW / 'High School, Junior Exam' Married; Farmer, of 'Stirling', West Maitland, NSW Next of Kin listed as: Wife; Flora Jemima Agnes Scobie (nee Crichton), of 'Stirling', West Maitland, NSW Photos of Colonel Scobie are known to exist in the following locations: FW Taylor p85. Sydney Town & Country Journal 16 Sep 1914 p22 & 30 Sep 1914 p26 & 19 May 1915 p22. Sydney Mail 25 Aug 1915 p31. The Australasian 4 Sep 1915 pviii

Died of wounds
7th August 1915
at Lone Pine, central Anzac sector
Aged 44






2nd Battalion, AIF

---

Grave:
Lone Pine Cemetery

(Special Memorial - 'Believed To Be Buried In This Cemetery')

Epitaph:

Their Glory Shall Not
Be Blotted Out

---

Boer War Service: Served in 3rd NSW Mounted Rifles as Lieutenant, B Squadron. Arrived in South Africa 12th April 1901. Promoted to Captain, 18th June 1901. Operations in Eastern Transvaal and Eastern Orange River Colony. (Murray p127 & 124).

Son; Roden Crichton Scobie
Son; Kenneth Robert Scobie
Daughter; Jessie Agnes Crichton Scobie


Previously served 15 years, including 15 months active service in South Africa, rank of Captain.
Previously served in 'His Majesty's Army - 3rd I.M. Rifles' [3rd NSW Mounted Rifles] and 'Colonial Forces 4th Rgt 14th A.I.R. [Australian Infantry Regiment]' (Captain and second in command).

Enlisted 17th September 1914. Embarked from Australia aboard A23 'Suffolk' on 18th October 1914 as second in command, 2nd Battalion, became Commanding Officer on death of Colonel Braund.

Father; Robert Scobie. Mother; Mary Scobie.
Wife not listed in CWGC records.

'Private information has been received to the effect that Major Robert Scobie, who went to Egypt as second in command to Colonel Braund of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Brigade, has been promoted to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel. To those who know him best, and have a knowledge of his military efficiency and steadiness, the news does not come as a surprise, for it was fully expected that his all round practical ability as a soldier would be certain to receive early recognition.' (Maitland Weekly Mercury 15 May 1915 p4).

Wounded by shrapnel hitting the bridge of the nose, 25th April:
'...a tall Australian officer, bareheaded, his face caked with blood, was seen wandering close in front of Lieut. McDonald's post. The stranger was, by some chance, unmolested by the Turks, whose fire there was deadly. He fainted in the scrub and was pulled, half delirious, into McDonald's post. It was Major Scobie, who had been wounded on Baby 700.' (Bean V1 p354n).

Letter from Private W.R. Dilley (shot in ribs) from Heliopolis Hospital, Cairo, to his father, Robert Dilley, of West Maitland, NSW, under date 3rd May 1915:
'The boys from Maitland had a bad time. Lieuts. Solling and Kelly were shot dead, and Major Scobie wounded. The latter is at Alexandria doing well. Poor old Lieut. Kelly was so well liked amongst his men. I am being nursed by Lieut. Solling's sister. Nurse Stobo [Colonel Scobie's sister] came in last night and broke the news to her of her brother's death. She seems to be taking it very hard. Tell all my friends and relatives I am getting on all right. I am keeping the bullet they extracted from my wound.' (Maitland Weekly Mercury 12 Jun 1915 p4).

A letter from Major Scobie, written from the Deaconess Hospital, Alexandria, to the Mayor of West Maitland (Alderman Mannall) appears in the Maitland Weekly Mercury 12 Jun 1915 p4. Another, describing the fighting, appears in ibid. 19 Jun 1915 p14.

Killed during the Turkish counter-attack at Lone Pine, 7th August; though no marks were seen on Major Scobie's body, it was assumed that he had been shot:
'...Colonel Scobie, a typical Australian countryman, spare of words but decided in action, went forward himself and decided that the detached posts could not be usefully maintained. He accordingly ordered a retirement from the communication trench to the main position, himself remaining in the sap while his men were withdrawing from it. He had sent for one of the large improvised bombs, which he intended to throw with his own hands in order to cover the retirement, and was above the parapet, heaving it, when he fell back dead.' (Bean V1 p545-6).
(Bean V1 pxiii, 296, 310, 316, 354n; V2 p519, 544, 545, killed 546, 546n, mentioned 548, 551; diagram of place killed, p545).

'The Turks attacked and attacked, and at 1 p.m. the following day, the 7th, made a special effort at all points. Scobie, with a wounded arm hanging in a sling, passed along the whole of the Second's position, and spoke to practically every man. ...From one post came an urgent call for more men to replace the heavy casualties. Scobie hurried along, as he always did, to the most threatened point, his intention being to see if this point was worth holding for the sacrifices being made, or to send in more men, if he decided in favour of holding. After viewing the position, he ordered a retirement of about 30 yards out of the communication trench that had been held so valiantly for such a time, and was standing in the sap while the men withdrew, when he was killed. The withdrawal was delayed then until his body was removed. It was finally sent to the beach for burial close to his old comrade, Braund.' (Herrod, Lt. Col. E.E. 'Trainers of Anzac: Braund and Scobie.' Reveille Vol.4 No.7; 31 Mar 1931 p29, 86-7).

'A Sydney cable states that Lieutenant Colonel Scobie, a member of a well-known Maitland family, who won distinction in the Boer War, has been killed at Gallipoli.' (Wanganui Herald 19 Aug 1915 p4).

Top Of Page