| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Private Joseph Robinson of the RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps), aged 29 and father of three young children, was drowned off the coast of northern Italy on 4 May 1917 when his ship, the HMS Transport Transylvania, was sunk by two torpedoes fired by the German submarine, U-60. The ship was en route from Marseilles to Alexandria in Egypt with a full complement of British troops and was off Cape Vado at 10.00am when sunk. One of the escorting Japanese destroyers tried to take men off the ship but when the second torpedo struck the engine room, the Transylvania sank immediately. The Beverley Guardian on 30 Jun 1917 said that Joseph’s body had been washed up on the coast near Savona but he is remembered on the Savona Memorial in Genoa which commemorates the 275 casualties whose bodies were not recovered from the sea. He was awarded the War and Victory Medals.
Joseph was born in Preston, near Hedon, on 16 Nov 1885 the son of William Robinson and Sarah Anne Robinson (nee Cherry) of Hull. The family lived in Hornsea and Patrington before moving to Beverley where William worked as a machinist’s planer. The family home was 24 St Andrew’s Street. Joseph's sister, Gladys, was born in 1896, she became a shop assistant.
Joseph attended St Mary’s Boys’ School in Beverley before becoming an apprentice bricklayer. In 1908 he ended his employment with Mr G A Watson of Leven and joined the East Riding Constabulary. He served as a constable in Bridlington from 1908-13, Filey in 1913, and in the Wetwang and Bainton area in 1914. On 14 Feb 1914 he was “asked to resign” from the force having being found drinking in a public house whilst on his beat, an offence for which he was reprimanded in 1913. He then resumed his bricklaying work. He married Martha Ann Woodger in Apr 1909, they had three children, Eva born 1911, Thomas born 1913 and Nellie born 1916.
Joseph joined the army in Oct 1915 and went to France on 31 Dec. The RAMC were unarmed but served at or near the front line. On 23 Sep 1916, Joseph was badly wounded in his left knee and immediately repatriated to hospital in the UK. On recovery he set off for Egypt on 18 Apr 1917 but was drowned two weeks later. He is remembered on the Hengate Memorial and on the East Riding Memorial in Beverley Minster.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |