Last of the Cavalrymen

Memoirs of Major-General Robert Harley Wordsworth
Ana Scarf and Charlotte Scarf (Eds)

Published by Forty South Publishing
RRP $49.95 in paperback | ISBN 9780975640616

‘There I was [in the British Indian Army] commanding a regiment of cavalry as obsolete as the bow and arrow!’

With these words, Robert Harley Wordsworth recalled his reaction to news of the outbreak of World War II in Europe in 1939, twenty-five years after he had enlisted, as a nineteen-year-old, in the 1st Light Horse and embarked for the Middle East in the first convoy of ships to depart Australia in 1914.

Born in Cowra in the latter part of the nineteenth century, he was to go on to lead an extraordinary life – as a military man, firstly in the Australian Army, before transferring to the (British) Indian Army where he progressed through the ranks to the rank of major-general in command of the 1st Armoured Division in the Middle East.

Later he would enter politics.

In all, he spent 25 years in India, fully immersed in the last days of the British Raj and all that entailed, living a gilded life against the backdrop of increasing political tension and social unrest.

At the end of the war, he retired to Tasmania, initially taking up farming before being persuaded to enter politics. He served as a senator representing the island state for ten years, which he described candidly as ‘the unhappiest of my professional life’, declaring that a soldier is trained to ‘act quickly and decisively’ whereas a politician ‘must be nice to everyone and must tolerate many foolish, ignorant and rude people’.

After suffering defeat in the election of 1958, he was offered the job of administrator of Norfolk Island, his final professional role before retirement.

Wordsworth’s daughter Ana and granddaughter Charlotte are to be congratulated for having painstakingly assembled Wordsworth’s story from audio tapes recorded over a four-year period, supplemented by detailed research to fill in the gaps.

The result is a refreshing, candid and highly readable account of a life well lived. It paints a picture of a loyal subject of his time, a man of service and courage and someone who grasped opportunities when they came his way.

BOOK LAUNCH REPORT

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