Henry Herbert Bartrop
Born in 1886 in Balmain, New South Wales, Henry Bartrop was the third of Herbert and Mary Bartrop’s six children. Known as Bert, he worked as a clerk before enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in May 1915. He embarked from Sydney the following month for the fighting in the Dardanelles.
Aged 28, Bartrop arrived at Anzac Cove in early August and was immediately drawn into the fighting at Lone Pine. Initially intended as a diversion, the attack called on Anzac forces to fight their way into heavily fortified Turkish positions. The main trench was captured, but the following four days of intense fighting resulted in heavy casualties.
Bartrop was reported missing in action in the days after the fighting. His family back in Australia wrote repeatedly to the AIF for information, but reports were inconclusive. One witness believed he saw Bartrop shot through the heart, while another insisted that he had buried Bartrop behind the trench in which he died.
More than a year later a court of inquiry concluded that Bartrop had been killed at Lone Pine on 7 August 1915, just two months after leaving Australia. He has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial on Gallipoli.
Bartrop’s younger brothers Harold and William both served in and survived the First World War. Harold was awarded the Military Medal for “conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty” in Belgium in 1917.
Activities
- Why did Australian soldiers wear colour patches?
Using this information about colour patches, research and copy some of the patches worn by Australian soldiers today. You might like to create your own using felt.
2. It has been said that Australian soldiers valued their colour patches more than any other decoration. Why do you think this might be the case? What might the colour patches have symbolised for the soldiers?
3. The German artillery shell case, below was engraved by Captain Allan Garbett of the 1st Light Horse Regiment during the First World War. What images can you see on the shell case? What do these images tell us about his experiences overseas?
4. Often known as the “dead man’s penny”, memorial plaques such as the one shown below were issued to the next of kin of all those who died while serving the British Empire.
How do you think families might have felt about receiving a plaque?
5. What do you think the lion on the plaque symbolises? Investigate some of the other symbolism on the plaque.
6. The details of Bartrop’s death took more than a year to resolve. Why do you think it was so difficult to find out the fates of some soldiers who died in the war?