1914-15 Star: Corporal Robert Bartlett Bates, Australian Army Medical Corps attached to 7 Battalion, AIF

1914-15 Star. Impressed reverse with recipient's details.

Robert Bartlett Bates was born in Kew, England in 1886-1887; his family emigrated to Australia, and settled on the Mornington Peninsula at a property called 'Una', near Moorooduc. His parents were both Quakers and Bates was studying for the Anglican priesthood in Melbourne at the time of his enlistment at Melbourne on 19 August 1914. He was assigned to the Army Medical Corps (2 Field Ambulance) and attached to 7 Battalion under service number 375. Being a Quaker, Bates was a pacifist but wanted to contribute to the war effort, and the Army Medical Corps seemed to be the best means of achieving this.

He served on Gallipoli until the evacuation, coming to prominence at Lone Pine where he was awarded his first Military Medal, recommended by the 7 Battalion’s Medical Officer, Captain J C Campbell, for retreiving men from outside the trenches at Lone Pine over two days.

After taking a brief rest in Mudros at Lemnos in September and part of October to rest and train, the battalion returned to Gallipoli. Just prior to the evacuation, on 27 November, Bates was promoted to corporal. The battalion recuperated in Egypt, taking in reinforcements before being sent to France.

Their first action was at Pozieres in 23 to 27 July 1916 returning on 15 to 21 August where once more, Bates was in the thick of the battle, tending to the wounded in No Man’s Land and saying a prayer for the dying or the dead. He was awarded a bar to his Military Medal for his courage.

Later, in 4 November, when the battalion was manning the trenches at Gueudecourt on the northern part of the Somme, Bates was struck by a bullet which wounded him in the right knee joint and glanced off his upper right arm, causing a 'severe flesh wound'. This injury effectively ended his military service and he was evacuated back to England. Although the injuries healed within 4 months, he spent the next eighteen months undergoing further operations, electrotherapy and physiotherapy to regain the use of both limbs.

When he was released back to 7 Battalion the war was almost over, but he was appointed a lance sergeant. Instead of returning home Bates applied for leave to continue his theological studies at Merton College at Oxford, earning a BA. He returned to Australia in August 1920 and was discharged on 9 December but as he was returning to England he arranged for all his medals to be sent to his sister Florence, who lived in South Yarra. He left for England soon afterwards and spent two years acting as curate of an inner London church.

Bates returned to Australia in 1924 and in 1926 was appointed the rector of All Saints in Brisbane – a position he held until 1947. In that year, he married Clarice Mary Albina Cox who was a well-known female vocalist and a member of the All Saints Church choir. Robert Bates died on 27 June 1955.