| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Robert was born in 1892 and in 1911, aged 19 was employed as a compositor by Wright & Hoggard, who published the Beverley Guardian. He enlisted in the Yorkshire Regiment (Beverley Terriers) and embarked for France on 18 Apr 1915, the same day as his younger brother Arthur, who served in the same regiment.
Robert was mentioned in the Beverley Guardian as having been wounded twice, once on 31 Jul 1915, "… slightly wounded under the eye but has gone back into the trenches." and again on 30 Sep1916 … "has again been wounded". Having been transferred into the 5th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment, "C" Company, Robert took part in action when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields in Mar and Apr 1918 and he was killed in action on 28 Mar 1918, unmarried and aged 26.
His mother received a letter from Captain E M Robson, telling her Robert had been killed by a shell, and continued, "I had a very high opinion of Sergt. Williamson's qualities and character. He died like a British soldier should, fighting bravely to the last."
Robert has no known grave, he is remembered with Honour at the Pozieres Memorial, and on the Beverley War Memorial.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |