Robert Orton
ca. 1860 — August 1929
Robert Orton (5‑66‑4)
Orton served with the 9th Lancers for twelve years including service in the second Afghanistan War from 1878 to 1880. He resigned from the army in 1885 and worked briefly for Queensland railways before making his application to be a police constable in October that year. He was stationed at South Brisbane in October 1899 when he wrote a letter seeking permission to join A Company, 1st Queensland Mounted Infantry. Some of the officers he had served under in Afghanistan were at the Boer War and he was keen to join them. He was granted six months leave without pay. So he was one of ‘the first of the first’ Queenslanders to go to the Boer War.
When Orton returned to Brisbane after his Boer War service on the 19 November 1900, the police band was there to meet him at Central Station. He had been repatriated home as he was injured when a horse fell on him. He rejoined the police force however it was not easy for him and in January 1901 he is seeking 19 pounds from the force to top up an allowance he should have received to make up the difference between his soldiers pay and his police pay. He pointed out that he was the only married police officer to join the Boer War campaign. Orton died in August 1929 aged 69.