The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3706) Corporal Edward William Cobbledick, 6th 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 Tristan Rallings, the story for this day was on (3706) Corporal Edward William Cobbledick, 6th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

3706 Corporal Edward William Cobbledick, 6th Battalion, AIF
KIA: 10 December 1916

Today we remember and pay tribute to Corporal Edward William Cobbledick.

Edward Cobbledick was born in 1887 to Theophilus and Mary Ann Cobbledick of Traralgon, Victoria. His family later settled at nearby Yarragon, where they ran a farm. Little is known of Edward’s early life or education. His mother was reportedly a kindly-natured woman who took a keen interest in her family. Edward, after finishing his education, went to work as a motor mechanic. He was a member of the Traralgon Town Band, and it was reported that “there was not a man in the whole commonwealth who filled the position of drum major better than he did.” He was also the captain of the local rifle club, and was known as “a fine shot with the rifle and [winner of] many of the club’s trophies.” In 1910 Edward married Rachel Archibald, known as Ray, and they had two children, Enid and Stuart.

Edward Cobbledick enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915, just weeks after the long casualty lists from the Gallipoli landings began to reach the Australian newspapers. He underwent a period of training in Australia before leaving for active service overseas on board the troopship Ceramic, in November 1915.

Cobbledick was first sent to Egypt, where the evacuated troops from the Gallipoli peninsula were arriving. During the months he was in Egypt, the AIF underwent a period of training and expansion, and in this process Cobbledick was promoted to corporal. On the 26th of March 1916 he left the harbour at Alexandria bound for Marseille and the war on the Western Front.

In late July 1916 the 6th Battalion took part in an operation that resulted in the capture of the French village of Pozieres. Although initially in reserve, the 6th was drawn into the village as the front line advanced, and helped to consolidate gains and hold new positions under some of the heaviest shellfire of the war to date. During this time Edward Cobbledick was proving to be a responsible and capable soldier, and after his first experience of trench warfare, he was promoted to sergeant in the field. The 6th Battalion would return to Pozieres for further operations a few weeks later.

In November, after having spent some time near the Belgian border, the 6th Battalion returned to the Somme area. On 11 November 1916 they were in the front line near the village of Flers, and a party had been sent forward to dig a jumping-off trench for a new attack. They soon encountered problems because it had been raining heavily and the whole battlefield was a quagmire. While the working party were in a forward trench in liquid mud up to their knees, they were discovered by a German patrol and bombed heavily. Unable to move anywhere quickly, the party suffered heavy casualties before they could withdraw.

Two days later, when the day the battalion moved back to bivouac at Fricourt, Sergeant Edward Cobbledick was caught drunk on duty. This was uncharacteristic for him, and seems to have been the result of his experiences at Fricourt, or perhaps had even been building since Pozieres. He pleaded guilty to the charge at the court martial, and lost his rank as a punishment, being demoted to corporal. He and his mates from the battalion benefitted from 12 days in billets in Vignacourt as respite from their recent time in the trenches.

By 6 December Cobbledick’s battalion was back in the front line at Flers, although with the bitterly cold winter weather having come in, they were defending the position and would not be called on to participate in major operations until the spring. The trenches they took over were in a bad state and the men immediately set to work to shore up their new position. A few days later a party was sent forward to occupy a recently deserted German gun pit. During the night the position was “put in a fairly strong state of defence” despite the shell-fire the party was subjected to. Casualties were light, with just one man killed.

That man was Corporal Edward Cobbledick. Even though a single casualty in an operation on the Western Front was considered a success, it was devastating to Edward’s family. The local vicar, the Reverend Pay, had to deliver the news. Edward’s wife, Ray, was visiting her sister, so the Reverend and Edward’s father Theo drove out to tell her and bring her home. The vicar later recalled “it was my painful duty to break the news to his wife and parents, yet all I could tell them was that he was killed in action on December 10, 1916. It is a harrowing thing to have to face.”

In a memorial service held at St. James’ Church in Traralgon, Edward Cobbledick’s sense of duty was celebrated. The eulogy in part said “the keenness with which he felt the call to serve his King and country indicates something of the true spirit of the man … No man in his senses actually wanted to go to the war for its sake… but the principles at stake, [drove] the gallant sons of the host of young men to enlist for service, and to take the chance of never returning to their native land again. We may truthfully say that Sergeant Cobbledick was one of such men.”

Ray Cobbledick never remarried, and died in 1971, aged 83. Her husband’s body was not recovered from the battlefield, and today he is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux in France. In January 1917 the family put a notice in the Melbourne newspaper in his memory. The last words read, “Far, far from those that loved him, our darling Dada sleeps.” Edward Cobbledick was 29 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Corporal Edward William Cobbledick, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section