Robert Ellis Hatrick

Born 7 Jul 1885 - Died 8 Aug 1915

Service number: WWI 2234 AWMM
Also known as: E. Hatrick AWMM
Robert Glendenning Ellison Hatrick AWMM
Armed force / branch: Army AWMM
Last rank: WW1 Private Peter Dennis, UNSW Canberra Australian Imperial Force (AIF), 15th Infantry Battalion Peter Dennis, UNSW Canberra
War: World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM

Robert Ellis Hatrick — Private R. E. Hatrick, Auckland Infantry Battalion, missing [serving in the Australian Imperial Force]. Supplement to the Auckland Weekly News, 7 October 1915, p.40. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19151007-40-23. No Known Copyright Restrictions

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Biographical information

Robert Ellis Hatrick (2234, Australian Imperial Force) was born on 7 July 1885 in Hamilton, the son of James Robert Ellison Hatrick and Lizzie Hatrick of Auckland, and one of eight children. He grew up within a family deeply affected by World War I. Three brothers served: James Grierson Hatrick, who was killed at the Somme in 1916; Robert Ellis Hatrick, who was killed at Gallipoli while serving with the Australian Imperial Force; and Hubert Knox Hatrick, who served with the Auckland Mounted Rifles and later in the Middle East.

The Hatrick family were established in business prior to the war, with their father operating a drapery and haberdashery business in Hamilton.

As a young man, Hatrick moved to Queensland, Australia, where he worked as a sailor and later as a farmer. He had extensive maritime experience prior to enlistment, including three years in the Commonwealth Naval Forces and a further six years in the Naval Reserves.

Following the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered for the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF), part of Australia’s first overseas deployment. He served in German New Guinea and took part in operations at Rabaul in September 1914, including the seizure of a German wireless station.

After returning to Australia, Hatrick enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 4 June 1915 at Brisbane, joining the 15th Battalion reinforcements. His service record confirms his enlistment in Queensland and identifies his father in Papakura as next of kin.

He embarked shortly after enlistment and was sent via Egypt to Gallipoli, arriving during the August 1915 offensives. Within this broader campaign, his unit was involved in operations associated with the advance towards the Sari Bair range.

Family memory records a brief meeting between Robert and his brother Hubert Knox Hatrick at Gallipoli, after several years apart, shortly before Robert joined his unit in the field. Within days of his arrival, he was reported missing during the fighting of 8 August 1915. Like many families, the Hatricks experienced a period of uncertainty, with correspondence expressing hope that he might have been taken prisoner.

A Court of Inquiry later determined that Robert Ellis Hatrick had been killed in action on 8 August 1915, aged 30. His body was never recovered.

His service and death are reflected in a surviving body of wartime correspondence written by his brother Hubert, now held as part of the University of Leeds’ Liddle Collection and digitally repatriated to the Alexander Turnbull Library. These letters form part of a wider family correspondence and include both Robert’s own writing from the Pacific and references to him in letters exchanged between his brothers and parents.

Robert Ellis Hatrick has no known grave and is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial at Gallipoli. His name is also recorded on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, the Bell War Memorial in Queensland, and the Auckland War Memorial Museum, and is remembered by his great-nieces and great-nephews (Profile written for “A Flight to Remember”, an Anzac Day 2026 initiative by Online Cenotaph and Air New Zealand).

Robert Hatrick was the son of James Robert Ellison Hatrick and Lizzie Hatrick, of Papakura, Auckland

Three brothers served during WW1: James (12/3672) killed in action 1916; Hubert (13/76) survived and Robert (2234) who was killed at Gallipoli serving with the Australian Imperial Force.

Listed as E. Hatrick on the Northcote War Memorial.

Taken on strength, 15th Bn, Gallipoli, 2 August 1915.

Reported missing, Gallipoli, 8 August 1915.

Court of Inquiry held in the field, 6 April 1916, pronounced fate as 'killed in action, Gallipoli, 8 August 1915'.

Next of Kin: Mr J. R. E. Hatrick, Papakura, Auckland (Roll of Honour, Auckland Province 1914-1918 (Volume 1)) AWMM

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Robert Ellis Hatrick