The AIF Project

Charles Keith Jago ROOKE

Regimental number64
Place of birthDorchester, England
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationSolicitor
AddressMangalore, Tasmania
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation46
Height5' 11.5"
Weight174 lbs
Next of kinBrother, Houston Patterson Wallace Rooke, Mangalore, Tasmania
Previous military serviceServed for 5 years in the 20th Middlesex (Artists') Rifle Corps, Territorial Force.
Enlistment date20 August 1915
Place of enlistmentBrighton, Tasmania
Rank on enlistmentCorporal
Unit name12th Battalion, A Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/29/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Hobart, Tasmania, on board Transport A2 Geelong on 20 October 1914
Rank from Nominal RollCorporal
Unit from Nominal Roll12th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 25 April 1915
Commemoration detailsThe Lone Pine Memorial (Panel 34), Gallipoli, Turkey

The Lone Pine Memorial, situated in the Lone Pine Cemetery at Anzac, is the main Australian Memorial on Gallipoli, and one of four memorials to men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Designed by Sir John Burnet, the principal architect of the Gallipoli cemeteries, it is a thick tapering pylon 14.3 metres high on a square base 12.98 metres wide. It is constructed from limestone mined at Ilgardere in Turkey.

The Memorial commemorates the 3268 Australians and 456 New Zealanders who have no known grave and the 960 Australians and 252 New Zealanders who were buried at sea after evacuation through wounds or disease. The names of New Zealanders commemorated are inscribed on stone panels mounted on the south and north sides of the pylon, while those of the Australians are listed on a long wall of panels in front of the pylon and to either side. Names are arranged by unit and rank.

The Memorial stands over the centre of the Turkish trenches and tunnels which were the scene of heavy fighting during the August offensive. Most cemeteries on Gallipoli contain relatively few marked graves, and the majority of Australians killed on Gallipoli are commemorated here.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
67
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli

Embarked Alexandria to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Gallipoli, 2 March 1915.

Reported missing, 25 April 1915.

Court of Enquiry, held 5 June 1916, pronounced fate as 'killed in action, 25 April 1915'.

Note on file: 'Killed 25.4.1915 vicinity of Walker's Ridge[.] Said to have been buried 50 yards from trenches, and grave marked with stone bearing his name.'

Statutory Declaration, 308 Pte W.E. STONE, 12th Bn, 11 May 1916: 'At 7 a.m. on April 25th 1915 Captain Burt of the 12th Battalion called for volunteers to act as Scouts. Corporal C.K. Rooke replied, that the whole of his Platoon (No. 3 I think) would volunteer if given five minutes to regain its wind. Corporal Rooke and myself went forward together until we reached the first hill; there I rejoined my own Platoon (No. 1) under the command of Lieutenant Patterson. The last I saw of Corporal Rooke was when I left him to rejoin my own Platoon at about 7.30 a.m. on 25th April.'

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, ROOKE Charles Keith Jago

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