Bert’s occupation and marital status on enlistment was detailed as a factory engine driver, who was single.
- Date of Birth – 1 April 18921NSW Birth Death and Marriages, https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/ Birth – 20546/1892. Blundell, Bertie. Parents Joseph and Martha, Registered in Lyttleton. Accessed 14 May 2024.
- Parents – Joseph Blundell and Martha Poole.
- Enlisted – 10 September 1915, Melbourne, Victoria. Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales on board RMS Mooltan on 11 December 1915.2University of NSW AIF project https://aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=25553. Accessed 14 May 2024.
- Regimental Number – 24663National Archives of Australia. https://www.naa.gov.au/. NAA: B2455, Blundell Bert, Item ID – 3094031. Accessed 14 May 2024.
- Aged at embarkation – 234Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1784824. Accessed 14 May 2024.
- Military service – 2nd Field Company Engineers, Reinforcement 12, Rank – Sapper5Virtual War Memorial Australia, https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/344893. Accessed 14 May 2024. Bert served on the Western Front and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
- Returned to Australia on 9 February 1919.
- Died – 15 August 1958, Heidelberg, Victoria.6VIC Birth Death and Marriages, https://my.rio.bdm.vic.gov.au/efamily-history/ Death 9777 / 1958. Bertie Blundell, Heidelberg, Victoria, Parents Joseph Blundell and Martha Poole. Accessed 14 May 2024.
- Buried – Lilydale Lawn Cemetery Lilydale, Yarra Ranges Shire, Victoria7Find a Grave.com. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/153227956/bert-blundell. Accessed 14 May 2024.
Bertie was the second son of Joseph (1862-1940) and Martha Poole (1865-1905). Joseph married Martha Poole in 1885 in Bega, and they had six children—Henry; Ethel; Bert; Thomas Clarence (Clyde); Mary Ann and Cecil. Joseph next married Emily Francis Pleming (1883-1966) in 1911, in Victoria. The 1912 electoral roll details Joseph as a winchman at Staghorn Flat, near Yackandandah, Victoria.
In December 1916, the Yackandandah Times8Yackandandah Times (Vic : 1890-1931), Thursday 21 December 1916, p 2. reported from ‘Staghorn Flat. Two of Mr [Joseph] Blundell’s sons and two of Mrs [Emily] Blundell’s brothers are in the A.I. F. The following are extracts from recent letters from S. Pleming, Mrs Blundell’s brother, who has been in the fight from the beginning … Sergeant S. Pleming and Bert Blundell were at the Poziers [Pozières] and also at Mouquet Farm.’
Bert’s younger brother Private Thomas Clarence (Clyde) Blundell ((1895-1963) Service number 4735, also served in WWI.
The Welcome Home held in May 1919 was described in the Yackandandah Times9Yackandandah Times (Vic : 1890-1931), Thursday 29 May 1919, p 1. as ‘A very pleasing function [which] took place in the old school-room when a welcome home was given to Privates …, Gunners …, [and] Sapper B. [Bert] Blundell‘.
Bert married Kathleen Marion Anderson (1892-1971) in 1921 in Victoria, and they had three children—Aileen; Noel and June Araluen. Bert was the proprietor of a Drapery business in Lilydale.
‘The many friends of Mr. Bert Blundell will be pleased to know that he is well on the road to recovery following a sudden and severe illness. Bert, who has returned home from the Lilydale Hospital, speaks, in glowing terms of the doctors and nurses. He hopes to be about in a week or so‘, the Lilydale Express10Lilydale Express (Vic : 1886-1897; 1914-1956), Friday 30 April 1943, p 3. reported in April 1943.