Roland Reeve Davey

Born: 1893

Died: 17th June 1939

Rank and Regiment: Private 6861 in the 15th Battalion of the Australian Light Infantry

Resting Place: Toowong Cemetery, Queensland, Australia - Portion 10, Section 77, Grave 22

Roland Reeve Davey was born 1893 in Barnham Broom to John and Clara Reeve. He was the older brother of Charlie and in 1911 was working as a farm labourer on his father’s farm.

On 15th January 1914, Roland and Charlie disembarked from HMAT Marathon to start their new life in Brisbane, Australia. Once there, he worked as a farmhand in Elimbah, Queensland until his enlistment on 15th April 1916 in Enogerra, Brisbane aged 23. He is recorded as being 5ft 9 inches, with blue eyes and light brown hair.

On 15th November 1916, Private (6861) Davey was assigned to the same battalion as his younger brother: the 15th Infantry Battalion. 2 days later, he boarded HMAT Kyarra bound for Plymouth, England. On his embarkation he listed his next of kin as his mother, Clara, who was still living in Barnham Broom.

Over a month later on the 30th January 1917, Roland’s ship docked in Plymouth and he was transferred to Codford in Wiltshire with the 4th Training Battalion.

In March 1917, he was hospitalised with mumps in the Group Hospital at Parkhouse however he returned to his battalion on 1 April.

In June, he was charged with havening been absent without leave. After having been held in custody for 24 hours awaiting trial, he was punished with 7 days’ loss of pay and three days of No. 2 Field Punishment, meaning his hands would have been placed in handcuffs but not fixed to any object meaning he could still move freely.  

On 17th June, he was granted 3-months’ leave for ‘family reasons,’ but the leave was extended to 3rd January 1919 so he could work on the family farm in Barnham Broom. It is also possible that the death of his brother Charlie on the frontline in April 1918 played a part, as did his declining health. Upon his return, he was transferred to Weymouth hospital once again for sickness and was discharged two weeks later. 

He was then stationed at the Australian Imperial Force Headquarters in London but was immediately given 3 months’ leave for non-military employment, once again working on the family farm in Norfolk. His father, John, assessed his work as “very satisfactory”.

On 3rd September 1919, Private Davey was sent back to Australia on the “Euripides,” disembarking in Sydney on the 24th October 1919. In Brisbane, on 13th March 1920 he was declared medically unfit and discharged from the army with valvular heart disease, pleuropericarditis and chronic pleurisy – symptoms consistent with being severely gassed. He was awarded the British War, Victory and Star Medals.

After the war, the Electoral Roll of 1919 in Australia records Roland as working as a farmer in Elimbah. In 1926, he married Frances ‘Mona’ McGee and they had three children: Gloria, Shirley and John. When John was 9, Roland died at the age of 46 on 17th June 1939 reportedly as a direct result of being gassed during the war. He is buried at the Toowong Cemetery in Queensland however, despite dying from wounds sustained in the war, he is not commemorated on the Australian War Memorial or in Barnham Broom as he did not die during war years.