Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

25/01/1916

Date of Discharge

23/10/1919

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

23/07/1893

Place of Birth

Newcastle NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Somerset Street, Mosman NSW (previously Acton ACT)

School(s) Attended

Sydney High School

Occupation

Surveyor

Next of Kin

Agnes Roberts (mother), Somerset Street, Mosman NSW

Final Rank

Lieutenant

Final Unit

5 Field Artillery Brigade

Clifford Roberts worked on the staff of surveyors Percival and Sheaffe in the Federal Territory during 1913 and 1914 and was living in Canberra at the outbreak of the war. He was working as the assistant engineer on the construction of the Tullamore and Tottenham railway when he enlisted in 1916. He arrived in France in May 1917 as a second Lieutenant with the 4th Field Artillery Brigade and received a gun shot wound to the arm in July. He was treated in London and promoted to Lieutenant returning to France in October 1917 and acting as liaison with the 69th Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps. During 1918 he served with the 2nd Division Ammunition Column and the 5th Field Artillery Brigade. Roberts was gassed during the battles around Peronne and Mont St. Quentin in September 1918 when, according to the Official History, "two guns of the 13th Battery coming up through Anvil Wood in support of the 26th Battalion were for a time used against St. Denis Wood 1200 yards away. They were eventually forced back by machine-gun fire to the Clery road. Here one gun and the section commander, Lt. C.G. Roberts, were put out of action by shells".

Roberts rejoined his unit later that month becoming Brigade Claims Officer and attending the Survey School in Southampton after the cessation of hostilities. He returned to Australia in August 1919 and his appointment was terminated on 23 October 1919. He married Elizabeth Scobie in 1928 and was working at Burrinjuck when he enlisted in 1940 for service in World War 2 during which he attained the rank of Captain in the Royal Australian Engineers.

Description - height 5 feet 10 inches, weight 154 pounds, chest 38 inches.

National Archives (A202) 1914/4381 Full names of Officers and Employees, Federal Territory Salaries Register
National Archives (A207) G1915/33 Rates of pay - officers and employees of Lands and Survey Branch, Federal Territory
Charles Bean, 'Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18' (Vol. VI, p.869)
Queanbeyan Age - 1 September 1914
WWII Nominal Roll http://www.ww2roll.gov.au
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)