Place | Europe: France, Nord Pas de Calais, Nord, Lille, Fromelles |
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Accession Number | PAFU2015/452.01 |
Collection type | Film |
Object type | Last Post film |
Physical description | 16:9 |
Maker |
Australian War Memorial |
Place made | Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell |
Date made | 2 November 2015 |
Access | Open |
Conflict |
First World War, 1914-1918 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial![]() |
Copying Provisions | Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction. |
The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1087) CSM William Henry Christian Rose, 55th Battalion, AIF, First World War.
The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Charis May, the story for this day was on (1087) CSM William Henry Christian Rose, 55th Battalion, AIF, First World War.
Film order form1087 CSM William Henry Christian Rose, 55th Battalion, AIF
KIA 20 July 1916
No photograph in collection – provided by family
Story delivered 2 November 2015
Today we remember and pay tribute to Company Sergeant Major William Rose, who died in France in the First World War.
William Rose was born in 1895, the second of five children born to Fredrick and Henrietta Rose of Chatswood in New South Wales. He attended Chatswood Public School and Fort Street High School, and paraded with the Coronation Cadets with rank of cadet lieutenant. Before the war he worked as an architect’s assistant for a local firm.
Rose enlisted in the AIF in August 1914, just three weeks after war was declared, and trained at Kensington Racecourse as an original member of the 3rd Battalion. His conduct in the senior cadets was immediately recognised by his superiors, and he was appointed corporal within weeks of enlisting. He left for Egypt in October, and in April was promoted to sergeant before taking part in the landings at Anzac Cove.
Rose spent several weeks on Gallipoli in the region around Lone Pine, but was evacuated to Egypt with gastroenteritis following the Turkish counter-attack on 19 May. As a result he missed out on the fighting at Lone Pine between the 7 and 9 August which cost the battalion more than 500 casualties. He returned to Gallipoli later in the month, and remained on the peninsula until the evacuation.
In February 1916 Rose was among a number of experienced soldiers from the 3rd Battalion transferred to the newly raised 55th Battalion as part of the “doubling up” of the AIF. No sooner had the battalion arrived in France than Rose was promoted to company sergeant major, becoming the most senior NCO of his company.
Just two weeks after arriving in France the 55th Battalion was committed to its first action on the Western Front: the costly and unsuccessful attack against the German trenches at Fromelles on 19 July 1916.
The battalion suffered heavily, with 340 men reported killed, missing, or wounded. Among the missing was Company Sergeant Major William Rose, who was last seen wounded in the German trenches. He was listed as missing for several weeks after the battle, after which a court of inquiry determined he had been killed in action.
According to his men, Company Sergeant Major Rose was “very popular” and “game as a pebble”; “a splendid soldier and leader” for whom “any of the men would have laid down their lives”. At the time of his death William Rose was just 20 years old.
His remains were not recovered at that time, and his father later travelled to France to try to find his missing son. However, in 2009 a mass grave was discovered at nearby Pheasant Wood, and DNA technology was used to identify the dead. One of these was William Rose, who was re-interred in the newly constructed Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. Until then he had been commemorated on the memorial at VC Corner Cemetery on the battlefield where he died.
William Rose’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 others from the First World War. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection. Rose is pictured on the left and Lieutenant Royal Hilyard Smith stands to the right, with his sister, Molly, between them. Sitting to the front is Rose’s sister Hazel.
This is one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Company Sergeant Major William Rose, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.
Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section
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Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1087) CSM William Henry Christian Rose, 55th Battalion, AIF, First World War. (video)