Ernest Armstrong Pirrie arrived in Melbourne in September 1913.  He was 27 when he enlisted on 27 November 1916.  His war service record is not on-line and therefore our knowledge of him is limited.  The index states that he was born in Manchester, England and that he was a butcher in South Melbourne.  He embarked as a private in the 10th Machine Gun Company, 7th Reinforcements on 19 February 1917 aboard HMAT Ballarat. The embarkation roll gives his address at the time as 10 Vale Street, East Melbourne and his next of kin, his mother, Mrs Bridget Pirrie, still living in Manchester.  He returned to Australia 21 April 1918.  A family notice in the Argus in 1933 refers to Mrs. E Pirrie and her daughter, Janet.