MUNRO, George Buchanan (1874-1916)
Born on 26 March 1874, the son of George Munro and Lucinda, nee Piper, of Alfredton, near Ballarat, he entered Geelong College on 12 February 1889. He was a member of the 1st Football Team in 1891 although he is not depicted in the Associated Schools Champions Football Team montage of 1891.
He married Clara Sheddon Watson Palmer, daughter of Thomas McLeod and Elizabeth Palmer, of Woodford, near Warrnambool. They had two daughters: Clara Miller Munro, born at Essendon in 1898; and Mary Isabel McLeod Munro, born at South Yarra in 1902.
George enlisted (No. 1648) on 24 September 1915 at Liverpool, New South Wales, and embarked on 10 November on HMAT A67 Orsova. On the Embarkation Roll, his occupation was listed as dentist, aged 43, and his address given as Bayview, Cremorne, NSW. He served in 6th Squadron, 2nd Remount Unit, the same squadron as Lt Andrew Barton 'Banjo' Paterson.
In 1914, with the outbreak of the Great War, Paterson had joined the AIF, and became a major in the 2nd Australian Remount Unit, a unit of horsemen from bush and racecourse whose task was to train mounts for the Australian Light Horse in Egypt. Two units of 800 men each were originally formed to look after the horses of the AIF mounted divisions that were at Gallipoli. When they arrived in Egypt in December 1915, however, the need no longer existed. Nevertheless the units began work, which involved training and exercising horses and mules, and despatching them to various destinations. Horses were received from Australia, England, France, the United States, Argentina, and Palestine. First sited permanently at Heliopolis, the Depot moved to Moascar in April 1917. While personnel numbers were halved in March 1916 and again reduced later that year, the Depot remained in Egypt for over three years. The work was carried out with very little loss of life or injury to the many animals handled. As an illustration of the volume of work, in 1916 around 10,000 horses were received, and about 10,000 were despatched. Training was time-consuming, as many of the animals that arrived were rather wild and only partly broken; while large numbers of men over 50 originally enlisted in the units, the work turned out to be too strenuous for them.
Private Munro spent time in hospital in Egypt, suffering from varicose veins. He returned to Australia, embarking on HMAT A48 Seang Bee on 29 April 1916. He disembarked at Fremantle but died there on 11 June 1916 at No 8 AGH from a pulmonary embolism.
The West Australian newspaper of 15 June 1916 reported:
‘A Military Funeral - Sergeant George Buchanan Munro, of the Australian Remount unit, who was returned from Egypt, died at the No 8 AGH, Fremantle, on the 11th inst., in his 45th year. The deceased leaves a widow, and two children, who reside at Gardenvale, Victoria. The funeral took place on Tuesday. The military cortege moved from Messrs. Arthur Davies and Co.' s private mortuary, Market Street, Fremantle, and proceeded to the local Presbyterian cemetery, where the remains were interred. The chief mourners were Mr and Mrs C M Palmer, Mr C H Field, and Mr and Mrs E Syms. The coffin was born to the grave by Privates Corbett, Folland, Ward, Swindells, Connery, and McDonald. After the burial service, which was conducted by the Rev Hubert Hamlin, three volleys were fired, and the Last Post sounded. The firing party, consisting of nineteen men, a corporal and a bugler, was under Sergeant Wood. The escort was drawn from the returned soldiers' guard. The officers present were Captain Stroud, Officer Commanding returned soldiers' guard, and Captain Taylor, staff officer in charge of invalids. Floral tributes were placed on the grave by the South Fremantle Red Cross Society and other friends.'
Word of Munro’s death was reported by Pegasus of May 1924: ‘It came as a surprise to many of his contemporaries of 1889 to learn recently that George Munro had died during the war whilst returning by troopship. He passed away in Western Australia, when he had almost reached home.’
In 1930, his second daughter Mary Munro married John Lindsay Whitehead, who had served as a 2nd Lieutenant with 38 Battalion in France, embarking on 20 June 1916 and returning to Australia on 24 May 1919.
Munro's nephew, Lt George Edward Buchanan Munro ( son of John Buchanan and Edith Elizabeth Munro, of Alfred ton), 24 Battalion, died on 22 May 1918 ,aged 27, of wounds sustained three days earlier at Ville-sur-Ancre. He
was buried at Vignacourt British Cemetery, France, Grave II.C.7.
Sources: 'Geelong Collegians at the Great War' compiled by J. Affleck. pp 77-78 (citing Pegasus; Australian War Memorial; National Archives; West Australian 15 June 1916).