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Lieutenant Colonel F W Robson, aged 30, and described by a contemporary as “one of the finest type of Englishman I ever met”, was killed in action on 28 Mar 1918 near Caix on the Somme in the face of a massive German advance. He was shot by machine gun fire whilst leading the 6th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry. He was posthumously mentioned in dispatches for his gallantry that day. The Beverley Guardian of 20 Apr 1918 reported that,
“He died fighting in command of his Battalion (which had then had a week of hard fighting), and no one…can praise too highly his conduct, and the example he set during the battle”.
His body was not recovered but his identity discs were returned to the UK via diplomatic channels. He is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial on the Somme, on the Sledmere Cross, on Pocklington War Memorial and on the East Riding Memorial in Beverley Minster.
Frederick was born the 15 May 1887 in Pocklington and baptised in All Saints Church the 15 Jun 1887, the son of Thomas and Eva Robson. Thomas was a solicitor in the town. Frederick attended Pocklington School and matriculated from London University in Law, he followed his father's career. Unmarried, he was active in local affairs, in the Conservative and Unionist Association, as a sidesman at All Saints Church and playing hockey for Yorkshire. In May 1909 he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Territorial Army, in the 5th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment which was nicknamed “The Beverley Terriers”.
On 1 Aug 1914 the 5th were mobilised, arriving in France on 17 Apr 1915 and were thrust into battle at St Julien near Ypres. Frederick later served on the Somme where in an action at Martinpuich on 15 Nov 1916 he won the DSO for “conspicuous gallantry in action”, having taken command of the 5th after the death of its commanding officer. As a Major and then Lieutenant Colonel he spent a short time at the 50th Divisional School of Instruction (Officer Training) before being given charge of the 6th Battalion of the DLI in Mar 1917. After his death, “an officer of high rank” noted in a letter to his parents, that, “Your son was a brilliant officer, and I foresaw for him a great and noble career, he had enormous ability, command and courage.”
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |