HERBERT BENNETT was born at Ballarat, Vic., on 24th June, 1890, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Bennett. He was educated at the Urquhart Street State School, Ballarat, and entered the Bank’s service in that city at the age of seventeen. From the time he joined the Bank on 15th February, 1907, until he left to enlist, he made steady progress, being appointed ledger-keeper at Rochester in December, 1909; assistant at Corryong in June, 1911; at Germanton in April, 1912; and he went to Chiltern in October, 1913. On 18th August, 1914, he was appointed teller at Linton, Victoria, and retained that position until he left to enlist.
Herbert Bennett joined the A.I.F, on 20th February, 1915, and went into training at the Ballarat Camp. He left Australia in the transport “Suffolk,” and was in Egypt for three weeks before being sent on to France as a member of C Company (No. 5037) of the 8th Battalion. He served in the same company as a private until the time of his death. Promotion was offered to him, but he refused to leave his work in the ranks. As stretcher-bearer he won the praise of his officers for devotion to duty.
After a hard night’s work, bringing in the wounded, Herbert Bennett was waiting for orders at Company Headquarters, near the sunken road across Ypres-Roulers railway line, and within sight of Passchendaele, when a high-explosive shell killed him and two comrades. He was buried in a French cemetery near by.
'Bennett, Herbert (Bert) (1890–1917)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/bennett-herbert-bert-19768/text31050, accessed 8 November 2024.
from Bank of NSW Roll of Honour
24 June,
1890
Ballarat,
Victoria,
Australia
25 October,
1917
(aged 27)
Belgium
Includes the religion in which subjects were raised, have chosen themselves, attendance at religious schools and/or religious funeral rites; Atheism and Agnosticism have been included.