236868 Pte. George Robinson British Army 11th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment from:Boston Spa (d.4th July 1916) George Robinson was in France for nine months before his death.
He was the eighth child of the eleven children born to Edward and Lizzie Robinson. He was born on 1st July 1894 in Boston Spa, Yorkshire. On the 1911 census when he was 16 he was living with his parents, twelve year old brother Arthur, ten year old brother Alfred and his occupation was butchers assistant.
He enlisted at York into the 11th Battalion, the West Yorkshire Regiment formed in September 1914 as part of Field Marshal Kitchener’s massive recruiting campaign. In the summer of 1915 he was in training at Bramshott, before leaving for France at the end of August. Bramshott is a hamlet on the border of Hampshire and Surrey and during the first World War~ Tin Town grew up around it.
In May 1916 George wrote to his class leaders at Boston Spa Methodist Church
“I have put myself fully into His hand, to use me as He will, as he knows what is best for me and I can face the dangers of war cheerfullyâ€
At the first Battle of the Somme, when so many soldiers perished, it was only the regular 1st and 2nd battalions of the West Yorkshire who fought. George’s battalion was behind the lines just north of Amien. On the 3rd July the Battalion relieved the 16th Royal Scots in Scots Redoubt and the adjacent trenches. The Battalion diary records that on the 4th July “ Attacked the enemy’s lines during the afternoon and obtained our objective. We were forced to retire, so fell back on our own linesâ€
According to a history of the West Yorkshire there was constant bombing attacks by both sides but no important alteration of the line took place. However, nineteen soldiers died on that day all with their names recorded on The Thiepval Memorial as having no known grave including George just three days after his 22nd birthday.
|