Bradford man did in war exactly one month after arriving

Members of a New Zealand Robinson family placed a photograph of a grandfather, Sam Robinson, in uniform from Bradford, who they understood to have died of influenza in the Great War. There was no other information.

However, the blurred photo was just sufficient for me to make out a cap badge belonging to the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. I enquired of the family whether Sam was a member of this regiment. They didn’t know, but believed it possible.

The numbers of Samuel/S Robinsons on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website are many, including those belonging to the Dukes. But I wasn’t going to give up to help them find him. The family had a moving letter written by Sam just before he was sent to France, and a copy of St Matthew’s Church, Bankfoot, war memorial book listing Sam with his address, 55 Draughton Street, and his date of death: January 31, 1917. Within seconds, I had him: 6373 Pte S.Robinson, 1/5th Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, buried at Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery. I was now able to send the Robinson family his entry on CWGC and a link to a photo of his grave.

Sam Robinson in military uniform (Image: Submitted)

Sam’s entry was minimal, not even his forename or any family details. Having read his letter to his wife and ‘kiddies’, I wanted to give the Robinson family more. Looking through Army records, I found that Sam had beaten the odds of 3/1 against his service records surviving. When WW1 records were moved for safety in the WW2 blitz the building was hit and two thirds of them were destroyed. Some years ago TNA released the surviving partly legible ‘burnt records’. Thirty per cent survived, including Sam’s. I could now tell his story...

Sam Robinson was born in Bowling in 1879. His father Leonard had the enviable profession of ‘Brandysnap maker’. Sam married Emily Jones in 1902 and was an electric tram conductor in Bradford.

Sam in his Bradford tram conductor uniform (Image: Submitted)

In August 1914, aged 35, married with a family of three children (four by 1916), Sam would not have been expected to enlist as a volunteer. But by November 1915, with the coming of the Derby Scheme, he had to ‘attest’ as being willing to serve if required.

The high number of casualties on the Somme in July 1916 resulted in many older Bradford men called up. Sam was called up on August 26, 1916 as the Bradford newspaper was still publishing photographs of the fallen from July 1. He enlisted into the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. His medical examination, despite eyesight problems and flat feet, passed him as Class ‘B’ but suitable for infantry training. By Christmas 1916, Sam was given ‘Embarkation leave’, prior to being sent to a temporary holding camp in Kent ahead of being sent out to France. It was at this camp returning from leave, that Sam wrote his long letter to his family: “Friday Night, 7 o’clock. Dear wife and kiddies, I did not sleep much last night, as my thoughts were of home. They say we will all be out before Christmas so I told the officer today that I had been marked fit for labour and he made a cross on the paper after my name. If I have to go, I will let you know, but do not worry as it can’t be helped and you know they all don’t get killed. I would rather be at home with my loved ones, but keep your heart up and no doubt all will end well. We have done no drilling today and I have been given another pair of new boots. They are a good fit. You must write and let me know how you are all taking it, tell me about my little lad (Herbert b. 1916) the boy I shall never forget with his winning smile which touches my heart. I am living in hopes of seeing you all again when this terrible war is over. Look after yourself and my little lambs and not to worry about me. Kiss my little lad for me and keep your heart up and hope for the best. I will let you know how I go on from time to time. With love from Dad XXX.”

Sam’s expectation that his medical condition would mean he’d serve with a Labour unit was not to be. He was sent to France in draft of replacements on December 31, 1916, to the 34th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples. Although designed as a final training camp, toughening up soldiers ‘going up the line’ in the infamous ‘Bull Ring’, Sam’s stay was short. On January 2, 1917, Sam with 101 others joined the 1/5th Dukes. Conditions were awful in the winter of 1916/17. For the battalion, things were quiet, holding the line at Berles for reduced periods due to the conditions. When not in the line, working parties were sent to the Royal Engineers for labouring duties. The weather worsened with snow, hard frosts and occasional thaws turning the ground to deep mud. Sam undertook two tours in the line, conditions making actions impossible. Survival was hard enough, especially for Sam, with medical conditions.

It was on January 28, 1917 that Sam, part of a working party labouring in the hard frost, went sick. He was admitted to the 1st West Riding Field Ambulance, diagnosed with a perforated gastric ulcer. A telegram was sent to York advising that Sam was ‘dangerously ill’. He was sent to the 20th Casualty Clearing Station at Warlincourt with pneumonia. A second telegram advised that he died the previous day. He was buried in the cemetery adjacent to the CCS.

Warlincourt-Halite Cemetery where Sam is buried (Image: Submitted)

Sam had been in France exactly one month. Expecting to be a signed to a non-combatant unit, he was sent to a front line battalion. The conditions, heavy work and his age/medical condition led to his untimely death. Sam’s service records don’t record how news of his death came to his family. However they do contain two further documents, telling another story of the Great War generation...

* See Saturday’s T&A for the next part of David Whithorn’s feature, revealing a link to his own family.