Robert Nelson RITCHIE

After a short three-week career as a constable in the Queensland Police, Robert Ritchie enlisted in the A.I.F on 3 April 1915. He embarked from Brisbane aboard the HMAT Aeneas A60 on the 29 June 1915 as part of the 25th Infantry Battalion. Conditions on the ships were cramped and the risk of illness was constant. Ritchie became seriously ill not long into the voyage. His condition became critical and he died from cerebrospinal meningitis at 10.40am on 19 July 1915. The convoy was halted and Ritchie was buried at sea with full military honours at the age of 23. Ritchie's brother also served during the war.