The AIF Project

Robert Henry COWL

Regimental number3019
Place of birthSouth Melbourne, Victoria
SchoolDorcas Street State School, South Melbourne, Victoria
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationCompositor
Address306 Bank Street, South Melbourne, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation22
Next of kinMother, Mrs E J Cowl, 306 Bank Street, South Melbourne, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date6 July 1915
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name7th Battalion, 10th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/24/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT RMS Osterley on 29 September 1915
Regimental number from Nominal Roll3019A
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll60th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 19 July 1916
Place of death or woundingFleurbaix, France (Battle of Fromelles)
Age at death25
Age at death from cemetery records23
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsV.C. Corner (Panel No 7), Australian Cemetery Memorial, Fromelles, France
Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
169
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Thomas and Eliza COWL, 306 Bank Street, South Melbourne, Victoria
Family/military connectionsCousin: Pte Raymond Ross, killed 29 September 1918.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Taken on strength, 7th Bn, Tel el Kebir, 7 January 1916.

Transferred to 59th Bn, and taken on strength, Tel el Kebir, 24 February 1916.

Transferred to 60th, and taken on strength, Tel el Kebir, 15 March 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 18 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 29 June 1916.

Reported Missing, 19 July 1916.

Court of Enquiry, held in the field, 4 August 1917, pronounced fate as 'Killed in Action, 19 July 1916'.

Statement, Red Cross File No 820415, 5389 Corporal L.A. HALL, 60th Bn (patient, 2nd Southern General Hospital, Bristol, England), 17 December 1916: 'We attacked the German lines at 6.30 p.m. July 19th near Fromelles, within a few minutes I saw both Cowl and [3017 Pte V.R.A.] Curwen hit by shrapnel, they fell and never moved and I feel certain they were dead though I did not examine them.'

Second statement, 2878 Pte R.E. POULTER, 60th Bn, 29 January 1917: 'They [Cowl and 10 others] all went over the top on 19th July at Fromelles. We had 440 yds. to cross under heavy fire and a creek to get over into the bargain. None of these men answered a roll call. In my own mind they were all killed. We could not get any bodies in, most of which lay 100 yds. out in No Man's Land.'

Note on file: 'No trace Germany[.] Cert. by Capt. Mills 10-10-19.'
SourcesNAA: B2455, COWL Robert Henry
Red Cross File No 820415

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