Clancy, Robert Bede

CLANCY, Robert Bede (1874–1916) was born in Toowoomba, son of Patrick Griffin Clancy, stationmaster and later auditor in the Railways Department, and Kate Brady. After joining the Buildings Branch of the Public Works Department as a cadet in November 1888, his small salary was increased, indicative of his competence. He was promoted to draftsman in 1890 but in a reduction of staff in May 1892, he was retrenched. In September 1896, Clancy joined the rush to the Western Australian goldfields where he was an assistant in the Telegraph Office at Murchison before the end of the year. As a keen debater, he was secretary of the Democratic Club’s team when he participated in a contest at the Menzies Mechanics Institute with R BALLARD as judge. By 1901, he was a surface hand at the Belle Vue mine at Sir Samuel and when, in December 1915, he enlisted at Blackboy Hill for service in World War 1, he claimed only to be a labourer. A year later while still training, he was admitted to hospital in Fremantle suffering from pneumonia and died ten days later.