Author Conversation: Last of the Cavalrymen: Memoirs of Major-General Robert Harley Wordsworth.

An Extraordinary Life - British Raj to Tasmanian Senator

Ana Scarf in conversation with Professor Peter Stanley

Join us at Asia Bookroom at 3pm on Saturday the 14th of September

Last of the Cavalrymen: Memoirs of Major-General Robert Harley Wordsworth

Last of the Cavalrymen is the memoir of Ana Scarf's father Robert Harley Wordsworth (1894-1984), a country lad from NSW who lived an extraordinary life. His military career spanned both World Wars, beginning as a junior officer in the 1st Light Horse Regiment at Gallipoli, Sinai and Palestine in WWI then transferring to the British Indian Army and rising through the ranks to Major-General in command of the 1st Armoured Division in the Middle East in WWII. In all, he spent 25 years in the rarefied world of the British Raj, playing polo and big game hunting with maharajas and other royalty. After retiring from the military, back home in Australia, he forged another career in public service as a Senator for Tasmania and lastly as Administrator of Norfolk Island. He attributed much of his success to his sporting prowess, bravado and a great deal of luck, all of which enabled him to live a grand life at the height of the British Empire.

Co-editor Ana Scarf began her working life in Canberra as assistant private secretary to a federal senator from Tasmania. Subsequently she joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and served at overseas postings in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania and in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. She settled in Sydney to raise her family and began a second career in industrial relations and workplace change. Before retirement, she established a consultancy practice in occupational analysis. She is co-editor with her daughter Charlotte of Last of the Cavalrymen: Memoirs of Major-General Robert Harley Wordsworth.

Professor Peter Stanley is one of Australia's most well-known military historians. As well as Australian military history, he has published in the field of British India, especially in the nineteenth century and the Great War. He will discuss the life and career of Robert Wordsworth, the Australian who became the 'Last Cavalryman' of the Indian Army.