| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Robert Burr, aged 23, was killed in action on 11 Oct 1918 in unknown circumstances during the Battle of Le Cateau. He was at that time a lance-sergeant, a corporal undertaking a sergeant’s duties, in the 6th Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment. Previously he had served as a corporal in the 1st/4th Battalion and then the 8th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment The Beverley Guardian of 30 November 1918 contained a letter from his previous company officer, E H Lebern, that said that Robert had taken part in attacks at Gouzecourt and Ganch Wood on 17 and 18 Sep 1918 and had “acted coolly and fearlessly and was of inestimable help. In a night attack his platoon had captured over 30 prisoners and several machine guns, and during the same night quickly got a bombing party together and re-established the position on the left of the company in a very courageous manner….” Robert was awarded the War and Victory Medals and was recommended for the French Croix de Guerre. He is buried at the Montay-Neuvilly Road Cemetery at Montay, SE of Cambrai in France.
Robert was born in Beverley on 10 Dec 1894 and baptised at St Mary’s Church on 13 Feb 1895. His father was William Burr, born in Vauxhall, London, in 1854 and in addition to sometimes working as a “boat maker” and “shoemaker” in the mid 1890s worked as a stableman and groom at racing stables in Beverley. In 1911 he was unemployed. Robert’s mother, Sarah Clubley was the daughter of Robert Clubley who had also been involved in the equine industry and who ran a lodging house in Dog and Duck Lane which Sarah later ran herself and where her family of eight children also lived for many years. The family later lived at Gordon Terrace, Walkergate (nicknamed “Jockeys’ Row”) and at 15 Wood Lane. Robert probably attended St Mary’s Boys’ School like many of his siblings. In 1911 he was working as a stable boy at the original Rose and Crown pub on York Rd which at that time had stables and accommodation at the rear and was especially used at the time of the Beverley races. Before joining up however he was working at the Grovehill shipyard. He was unmarried.
Robert is commemorated on the Hengate War Memorial and on the East Riding Memorial in Beverley Minster.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |