216765 Lt. Robert Erskine Atwell British Army 4th Btn. Connaught Rangers (d.2nd Sep 1918) Lieutenant Robert Atwell was born on October 26th 1882 in Sandymount, Dublin. He was the son of Sarah Margretta Atwell, of 10 Braid Hills Road, Edinburgh, and Richard Atwell, of Blackrock, County Dublin. Before enlisting in December 1914 he worked at the Head Office of Standard Life Assurance Company, Edinburgh. From 1914 to 1917 he served in the Lothians and Border Horse, and on 25th January 1917 he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 4th Connaught Rangers. He then travelled to France in March of that year.
For the first three months he was attached to the 6th Connaught Rangers, and from August 1917 to April 1918 he was back in Scotland recovering from shell shock. A few months after returning to France in August 1918 he was promoted to Lieutenant having been attached to the 12th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles. Robert Atwell was 35 years old when he was killed in action near Neuve Eglise, France, and he is buried in Wulverghem-Lindenhoek Road Military Cemetery. He is commemorated on the Standard Life Assurance Company Memorial, Edinburgh.
|