Robert William Rankin (1907 - 1942)

Born 3 Jun 1907 in Cobar, New South Wales, Australia

Husband of Mary Glennie (Broughton) McLean — married 4 Oct 1937 (to 4 Mar 1942) in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Died 4 Mar 1942 at age 34 in At Sea

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Biography

Robert William Rankin (1907-1942), naval officer, was born on 3 June 1907 at Cobar, New South Wales, second of three children of Australian-born parents Francis John Rankin, sharebroker's clerk, and his wife Florence May, née Harvey. Robert was educated at Merrylands Public School, Sydney, and Parramatta High School. In 1921 he entered the Royal Australian Naval College, Jervis Bay, Federal Capital Territory. Nicknamed 'Oscar', he excelled at Rugby Union football, became cadet captain and graduated in 1924 with prizes for engineering and mathematics. Having served as a midshipman in HMA ships Brisbane and Melbourne, Rankin undertook training with the Royal Navy in 1926. Next year he attended the junior officers' war-course at the R.N. College, Greenwich, where he was one of six sub lieutenants whose essays were commended by the Admiralty. Following further courses at Portsmouth, he joined the newly commissioned cruiser HMAS Canberra in 1928 and returned in her to Australia where he was promoted lieutenant in August 1929.

RAN Officers

Deciding to specialize in hydrography, Rankin joined the survey ship HMAS Moresby on 18 January 1934. Apart from occasional periods on shore, he charted Australian and New Guinea waters until February 1938. His superiors regarded him as a keen, hard-working officer, if somewhat lacking in powers of command. At the Bellevue Hotel, Brisbane, on 4 October 1937 he married with Catholic rites Mary Glennie Broughton, a 25-year-old nurse.

People – LifeTree

• John Augustine Collins CB (1899 - 1989)
• Harold Bruce Farncomb CB DSO MVO (1899 - 1971)

• Royal Australian Navy - Ship Tree

Sources

• Richard Pelvin, Rankin, Robert William (1907–1942), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University,
  published first in hardcopy 2002, accessed online 10 November 2019.