243591 Pte. Tom Robson British Army 17th Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps. from:Dublin/Dover My grandfather, Tom Robson, was born in Oldham, Lancashire, in 1882. He served in RAMC in South Africa between 1901-03 before returning to the UK, based in Mullingar Barracks in Ireland. There he met an Irish girl, Catherine Reilly, fell in love, married, left the Army, settled in Dublin as a cook/waiter and had 4 children (1 died aged 1) before rejoining RAMC to go to France in September 1914 with 17th Field Ambulance. A fifth child, my father Tom, was born in January 1915. His family continued to live in Dublin but moved to Dover some time after the Easter Rising in 1916. Tom returned from the war to father two more children in 1919 and 1926.
My father said his father never talked about his time in RAMC and was happy to live life with his family in Dover. I think he worked for some time as a cook/waiter on the cross-channel ferries. He died of lung cancer in a hospital in Manchester on Christmas Eve 1944, possibly having stayed with his extended family away from the 'front line' in Dover. Catherine was with him at his death.
My grandfather is not a hero in the recognised sense, but, to his family and like many who served, he is someone who did his duty when called upon despite his strong family commitments.
Any information about Tom's service would be welcomed by his family.
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