GRANT Richardson Albert "Bert"		Born: 1888-07-04	Died: 1978-06-09
Father: GRANT William Henry		Mother: HAMMERTON Frances Anne
Children: GRANT Colin, GRANT Thomas Alfred, GRANT Jack Robinson, GRANT Joan, GRANT Allan Albert "Sandy", GRANT Robert Gordon (Bob), GRANT Walter Richard, GRANT William John, GRANT Frances
Siblings: GRANT James, GRANT Maud, GRANT Mary Louise "May", GRANT William Henry Jr 1, GRANT Margaret Edith Alma, GRANT Laura Fanny, GRANT Emma Elizabeth, GRANT Charles Henry Anthony, GRANT William Henry (Jr), GRANT Nellie Gladys "Nell", GRANT Sellwood Hammerton, GRANT Folsch Newenham, GRANT Leslie James "Jack", GRANT William Francis, GRANT Rhoda Alice

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Richardson Albert “Bert” GRANT (son of William Henry GRANT and Francis Anne HAMMERTON) was born on 04 Jul 1888 in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. He died on 09 Jun 1978 in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia.
He married Edith Emily ROBINSON on 04 Oct 1923 in Boambee, New South
Wales, Australia. She was born on 02 Nov 1899.

Bert ran away to sea at the age of 16, becoming a cabin boy on the ‘Donna Francisca’ (a three-mast Basque sailing ship) bound for San Francisco, USA.

The Francisca was bound from Newcastle for Valparaiso, Chile, with 3000 ton of coal. At Valparaiso the coal cargo was replaced by 5000 tons of saltpetre bound for Hamburg Germany, via Cape Horn. At Hamburg they took on a load of cement bound for San Francisco. The voyage to San Francisco required rounding Cape Horn from the east, often a treacherous journey.

On arrival in San Francisco they were confronted with a city completely devastated by earthquakes and fire. They were unaware of the occurrence of the earthquake of April 6^th 1906. The ship continued on to Vancouver where Bert and a mate deserted the ship, as the conditions on board had become too bad. He spent the following two years in Canada and the United States before joining another ship, the ‘Alpera’. in 1908. The Alpera was Sydney bound with a load of Oregon piles, most of them 90 feet in length. After arriving in Sydney Bert returned to Englands Road.

When Bert came back from overseas he settled in Boambee and worked on his sister’s farm, milking cows. In 1914 all his brothers enlisted for the Great War and Bert was left to look after the farm on his own but couldn’t make any money farming at that time. Having very little food to eat and obviously feeling very left behind, Bert decided to enlist. He also reasoned that ‘at least they fed you’ and that seemed to be a good enough reason to join up. He enlisted in January 1916 in Liverpool in the 7th Light-horse Brigade and sailed for the Middle East on the ship ‘Hororata’ on the 26^th August 1916. He was sent to Egypt.

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