256827 Pte Archdale Saunders Robinson British Army 8th Btn Bedfordshire Regiment from:Great Barford, Bedfordshire, (d.19th of April 1916) Archdale Robinson was my great uncle. I never knew him but have always been fascinated by him and his short life. He does cause some confusion as he appears to be registered in some areas of the military records as 'Archibald' but his name was definitely Archdale.
Archdale served with the Bedfordshire Regiment 8th Battalion in WW1. There is also a family story that he was actually only 16 when he enlisted, fudging his age and therefore only being 18 when he died in France, 19th of April 1916, and not the 21 years officially reported. Either way, it was a tragic thing repeated so many times.
He has no known grave and it saddened me beyond belief when I learned that often these 'unknown grave' soldiers drowned in shell holes, or suffocated in them if they were not killed outright. His name is on the gate at Lille in Belgium, that is all.
He was a farm labourer and need not have gone to war but wanted to do his bit for King and Country. He went from riding the big shire horses to being killed in the defense of his country and he will always be my hero, along with all of those men and boys that never came home again, be they British or not.
|