Albert Chalmers (Borella) Chalmers-Borella VC MM (1881-1968)

Albert Chalmers Chalmers-Borella VC MM formerly Borella aka Borella

Born 7 Aug 1881 in Mysia (Borung), Victoria

Ancestors

Son of Louis Borella and Ann (Chalmers) Borella

Brother of Beatrice Elizabeth Alfreda (Borella) Kirkland, Annie Aurora (Borella) Brown, Margaret (Borella) Swan [half], Percy Lewis Borella [half], Charles Borella [half], James Borella [half], Rex Thomas Borella [half] and Louis Borella [half]

Husband of Elsie Jane (Love) Borella — married 16 Aug 1928 in Hamilton, Victoria, Australia

Father of Mervyn Chalmers Borella and Rowan Chalmers Borella

Died 7 Feb 1968 at age 86 in Albury, New South Wales, Australia

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Profile last modified 8 Feb 2024 | Created 12 Mar 2019

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1 Biography
2 Sources
3 See also

Biography

Albert (Borella) Chalmers-Borella VC MM is Notable.

Albert Borella VC MM was an Australian farmer in Victoria and the Northern Territory, a public servant and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that could be awarded to members of British and Commonwealth forces.

LT Albert Chalmers Borella VC MM
(AWM P02939.032)

Formative years

Albert (Borella) Chalmers-Borella VC MM was born in the Colony of Victoria (1851-1900)

Albert (Borella) Chalmers-Borella VC MM is an Anzac who served in World War One.

Albert Chalmers Borella VC MM was born on 7th August 1881 in Mysia (later re-named Borung), a rural community in north central Victoria (Australia). He was the only son (with two sisters, one olde and one younger than he) of Louis Borella, a farmer, and Annie Chalmers. ^[1] His mother died when Albert was about four years of age. As will be seen below, she was certainly never forgotten by the young man! His father married again in 1889, providing Albert with a further sister and five brothers (the eldest of whom only lived two months).

Albert was a farmer

After attending state schools at Borung and Wychitella (eighteen kilometres west of Borung and also in Loddon Shire), Albert became a farmer, working around Borung and Echuca (100 kms to the east and on the Murray and Campaspe Rivers). He also enlisted as a part-time soldier in the Victorian Rangers, serving for a period of 18 months. He travelled to Melbourne in early 1910 and became a fireman in the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, remaining in the city until early 1913 when he travelled to the Northern Territory to take up a pastoral lease, working a property on the Daly River. With the help of Aboriginal boys he built a house and ring-barked and partly fenced his holding, before mounting costs forced him to abandon it early in 1915.

The 'war to end all wars'

Albert (Borella) Chalmers-Borella VC MM is a Military Veteran.
Served in the Australian Imperial Force 1915-1919
26th Infantry Battalion

In Townsville, Queensland, on 15th March 1915, Albert enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). ^[2] Whilst he was undertaking his basic training, the AIF made their famous landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 25th April. Together with reinforcements for the 26th Infantry Battalion he embarked for the Middle East at Brisbane aboard HMAT Ascanius A11 on 24th May. ^[3]

Albert joined his battalion at Gallipoli on 12th September 1915, being allocated to B Company, remaining in the trenches until being evacuated with jaundice on 19th November. He was promoted to Corporal shortly after deploying.

most conspicuous bravery in attack ...
his cool determination inspired his men

Victoria Cross

He did not rejoin his unit until 5th February 1916, and then served on the Western Front in France, being wounded in the Battle of Pozières Heights on 29th July. He re-joined his battalion following four months of convalescence. Having been promoted to Sergeant, Albert received a Military Medal (MM) for 'conspicuous bravery in action ... in the attack on Malt Trench north of Warlencourt on 1st-2nd March 1917' on 11th May 1917 ^[4]^[5]^[6] (the Military Medal has been superseded by today's Medal for Gallantry) and was Mentioned in Despatches (equivalent to today's Commendation for Gallantry) on 1st June 1917 for 'devotion to duty and general good work in the trenches since the Battalion has been in Gallipoli and France'. ^[7]^[8] Albert was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 7th April 1917 and further promoted to Lieutenant on 28th August that year, whilst undertaking officer training in England.

Albert was recommended for the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) on 25th July 1918 for 'exceptional gallantry in the attack near Villers-Bretonneux on 17th-18th July ... show(ing) great tactical skill, coolness and courage, and set a magnificent example'. ^[9]^[10] Whilst rarely is the DSO awarded to junior officers, the recommendation was upgraded to the Victoria Cross (VC), with the final sentence altered to 'his cool determination inspired his men to resist heroically, and the enemy were repulsed with heavy losses'. The award was gazetted in London on 16th September 1918 and in Melbourne on 12th February 1919. ^[11] He was presented the award at Sandringham by King George V. For his war service, Albert was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal and Returned from Active Service Badge.

Returned from Active Service Badge

Back home

After the Armistice was signed in November 1918, Albert was invalided back to Australia, arriving in Melbourne on New Year's Day 1919. Three of his younger brothers also served during the war: Charles and James in the 7th Infantry Battalion, and Rex in the 8th Light Horse Regiment. All survived and returned to Australia, although James died five months afterwards.

From 1920, Albert began farming a soldier settlement block at Hensley Park, 15 kms north of Hamilton in south western Victoria.

On 16th August 1928, Albert married Elsie Love in the Wesleyan Church, Hamilton. ^[12] He and Elsie gave all their boys his mother's maiden surname of Chalmers, like himself, as a middle name. In September 1939, Albert changed his name by deed-poll to Chalmers-Borella, he and his family then using the hyphenated surname.

Another war

Albert (Borella) Chalmers-Borella VC MM is a Military Veteran.
Served in the Australian Military Force 1939-1945
12th Garrison Battalion; Prisoner of War Group; 51st Garrison Company

At Hensley Park on 15th October 1939, Albert was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Army; ready to serve once more in the recently-declared Second World War. He served in the Australian Military Force (AMF) within Australia from October 1939 to May 1945. He was initially posted to the 12th Garrison Battalion until July 1941, when he was posted to the Prisoner of War Group based at Rushworth, Victoria. From September 1942, when he was promoted to Captain, he was posted to the 51st Garrison Company, based at Myrtleford, Victoria, and retired on 8th May 1945 (aged 63 years), the day after Victory in Europe Day. ^[13] For this additional service, Albert was awarded the Australia Service Medal 1939-1945.

After the war, the Chalmers-Borella family moved to North Albury, on the New South Wales side of the Murray River, Albert working in Albury as a public servant in the Commonwealth Department of Supply and Shipping; retiring in 1956 at the age of 74 years.

Final parade

Aged 86 years, Albert passed away on 7th February 1968 in Albury and was buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery, North Albury. ^[14] He had outlived all of his siblings. Elsie and two of their sons survived him.

Honours and awards

Albert Chalmers Borella was deservedly awarded several medals, listed in order of precedence:

Victoria Cross
Military Medal
Mention in Despatches
1914-1915 Star
British War Medal, with Palm Leaf Clasp indicating the Mention in Despatches
Victory Medal
Australia Service Medal 1939-1945

Streets in both Albury and Canberra have been named in his memory.

On 3rd February 2015, Albert's Victoria Cross was escorted to the Parliament House of the Northern Territory in an armed convoy where it, its accompanying medal group, and a Luger pistol brought home by Albert from the Western Front, remained on public display in Parliament House for two months.

Albert Chalmers (Borella) Chalmers-Borella VC MM (1881 - 1968)

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