Profile

ALLAN, Robert Brechin
(Service number 29203)

Aliases	Known as Bob. Enlisted as Robert Breachin ALLAN
First Rank	Private	Last Rank	Private

Birth

Date	9 April 1894	Place of Birth	Geraldine

Enlistment Information

Date	27 June 1916	Age	22 years
Address at Enlistment	Waikari
Occupation	Farmer
Previous Military Experience	13th Infantry Regiment 5 years
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	John ALLAN (father), Park View, Waikari, North Canterbury
Religion	Presbyterian

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	18th Reinforcements, Canterbury Infantry Battalion, C Company
Date	11 October 1916
Transport	Tofua
Embarked From		Destination	Plymouth, Devon, England

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With	Canterbury Infantry Regiment, 3rd Battalion

Military Awards

Campaigns	Western European
Service Medals	British War Medal; Victory Medal

Death

Date	17 October 1917	Age	23 years
Place of Death	Belgium
Cause	Died of Wounds
Notices	Lyttelton Times, 26 November 1917, Press, 27 November 1917
Memorial or Cemetery	Tyne Cot Memorial in Tyne Cot Cemetery, Belgium. Waikari Cemetery - memorial
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Robert Brechin Allan (Bob) was born on 9 April 1894 at Geraldine, the youngest son of John and Jane (Jean/Jeanie, née Forrester) Allan. John and Jean had married in 1877 in their native Cumbernauld, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, before emigrating with their first-born in 1878. After a spell in the Ashburton district, Mr Allan started farming at Geraldine in 1880. A second son was born at Ashburton, followed by four daughters and four sons, all born at Geraldine. When Mr Allan sold the farm in 1897, the family moved to North Canterbury. There the younger children transferred from Geraldine School to Masons Flat School and on to Waikari School. Young Robert started at Masons Flat School in June 1899, later transferrin to Waikari School.

Robert Breachin Allan enlisted on 27 June 1916 at Trentham. Farming at Waikari with his father, single and Presbyterian, he named his father as next-of-kin – John Allan, Park View, Waikari, North Canterbury, and afterwards 75 Bishops St, St Albans, Christchurch. John and Jane Allan later moved into Papanui Road, Christchurch. Private R. B. Allan embarked with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion of the 18th Reinforcements, leaving for Plymouth, England per the “Tofua” on 11 October 1916. Just a year after, on 17 October 1917, he died of wounds in Belgium. He is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Tyne Cot Cemetery, Belgium. “For King and Country.”

Private R. B. Allan and his brother, Corporal J. Allan, are remembered on their parents’ headstone at Waikari Cemetery. Their cousin, John Alexander Macdonald Allan, served with the Royal air Force in World War One and was killed on 20 May 1918 in an air accident in England. Another cousin, James Waddell Scott, who was born in Scotland, served with the New Zealand Forces in the South African War. He died in an accident in 1905 and was buried at Waimate, his parents with him. Scottish-born cousin, William Brechin, was killed in action on 7 August 1915 in France.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [15 February 2025]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [15 February 2025]; School Admission records [16 February 2025]; Lyttelton Times, 26 November 1917, Press, 27 November 1917, Sun, 27 November 1917 (Papers Past) [16 February 2025]; Waikari Cemetery records (Hurunui District Council) [16 February 2025]

External Links

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Scoiety

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.

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