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12420 King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry;
In writing this biography I have leaned rather heavily upon the excellent detailed research by John Coulthard and Mark Smith and I thank them both. Our thanks also to Mark Smith for sharing with us his remarkable and inspirational Collection of WWI and WWII medals and memorabilia including these medals presented to Ossett soldier and survivor Private Henry Robinson.
British & Victory Medals in recognition of service in The Great War. Awarded to Private Henry Robinson. Photograph Mark Smith
Henry Robinson was born in Flushdyke, Ossett in summer 1892 the second child and elder son of Crigglestone born Samuel Robinson and his wife, Flushdyke born, Lucy (nee Taylor) who married in summer 1885.In 1901 the couple and their three children, including Henry, were living on Dewsbury Road, Ossett. Samuel was a card cleaner in a mungo mill and his eldest child, Alice, aged 15, was a rag sorter in a cloth mill. Henry, aged 8, and his younger brother, Claude, aged 6, were still at school.
By 1911 the family were living at 1 Eldon Terrace, Flushdyke and Samuel was working for the Borough Council as a street lamp lighter or “knocker up”. The children were unmarried and working. The eldest, Alice was 25 and working as a case maker (pyrotechnists) most likely to be the nearby Riley Fireworks Company. Both Henry and Claude were working in a local woollen mill as piecers. A grand daughter, Kathleen Robinson, aged two years, was also living in the household.
On 29th November 1913 at Springfield Congregational Chapel, Dewsbury, Henry Robinson married Warmfield born Rosa Robinson. Henry, aged 21, a cotton spinner, was living at 34 Wakefield Road, Flushdyke. His bride, Rosa, aged 20, was a servant at Knoll House, Dale Street, Ossett. The couple had three children from their marriage; Frank was born at Old Church Street, Ossett on 11th May 1914, Gladys was born on 13th October 1915 and Henry who was born at 9, Albion Terrace on 5th November 1918.
Great Britain declared war on the German Empire on 4th August 1914 and Henry Robinson chose the Derby Scheme option and attested at Pontefract on 11th December 1915. His army service papers have survived, albeit some in poor condition but to have them helps to know more about him and his whereabouts in service. He was employed as a woollen spinner, 23 years and six months old, stood 5’ 2 ¾” tall, weighed 126 lbs and at the time of his attestation he had two children. It records his address as 9, Albion Terrace, Ossett and that he was mobilised on 15th June 1916. Two days later he was posted to 11th (Reserve) Battalion KOYLI. On 1st September 1916 the 11th battalion converted into 8th Training Reserve Battalion.
On 6th October 1916 Henry disembarked in France and was transferred to the 13th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers which was under orders from the 62nd Brigade, 21st Division. On 20th October, two weeks after his arrival in France it appears that he was transferred again, this time to 1/6th Battalion Durham Light Infantry (DLI) in the 151st Brigade in the 50th (Northumberland) Division.
On his first day with the Durhams the battalion was in tents at Henecourt Wood on the Somme busying with fatigues, erecting huts and making roads. This was followed by training and working parties whilst encamped at Mametz Wood where he would have experienced the 151st Division’s November 1916 attack on the enemy at the Butte de Warlencourt. The German position however was exceptionally strong, the trenches were so muddy that several men drowned in them and the preparation time inadequately short such that the attack broke down as soon as it began.
The Brigade suffered almost a thousand casualties in the November 1916 attack.
Born in 1898 and awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in this attack, Henry Cruddace , also of the 1/ 6th Durham’s gives a short account of the attack quoted in “The Somme, 1916: The Strip of Murdered Nature”.
Zero hour was almost upon us. Serious men gazed into one another’s faces and some muttered thoughts of God and their loved ones. Chums clasped hands and said “Cheerio lad”. Immediately the first wave moved off they were met by terrific fire and crumpled up like snow in summer. We held on and the 9th Durhams reached a quarry on the edge of the Butte. I took up position with the gun and opened fire on the opposing troops.
In the background The Butte de Warlencourt on The Somme
Within a month of the November 1916 attack Henry Robinson was posted home presumably due to sickness. On 12th February 1917 he was admitted to Woodcote Park Military Convalescent Hospital at Epsom. He was discharged a month later and on 24th March 1917 he was posted to 5th (Reserve) Durham Light Infantry. He embarked at Folkestone and on 27th May 1917 he disembarked at Boulogne. After a month at 35 Infantry Base Depot on 25th June 1917 he rejoined the 1/6th DLI in the field.
After a relatively quiet three months the battalion was moved up to Ypres in late October 1917 where Private Henry Robinson was to participate in the second battle of Passchendaele which raged from 26th October to 10th November 1917. In spite of the quagmires for which the Ypres Salient had become renowned, in December 1917 the battalion held and advanced the sector by 200 yards and took over the line in Passchendaele Village itself.
From 6th February 1918 Private Robinson was on home leave which explains the birth of the couple’s third child, Henry junior, who was born at 9, Albion Terrace, Ossett on 5th November 1918.
In early 1918 the battalion, including Henry Robinson, had moved from Ypres back to France and on 21st March 1918 the Germans launched their Spring Offensive,also known as Operation Michael. The Germans had realised that their only remaining chance of victory was to defeat the Allies before the United States could fully deploy its resources. The German Army had gained a temporary advantage in numbers as nearly 50 divisions had been freed by the Russian withdrawal from the war. The Spring Offensive, Operation Michael, was intended to break through the Allied lines, outflank the British forces (which held the front from the Somme River to the English Channel) and defeat the British Army.
On 27th March 1918 Private Robinson was wounded in the field as the German attack was pressed home whilst the allied counterattack sought to regain the battalion’s lost position at Rosiers. Henry was one of the other ranks of the battalion wounded during the fighting between 21st and 31st March 1918. He was hospitalised in England between 17th April and 2nd August 1918 with gunshot wounds to his right forearm and left leg. On 24th August 1918 he was transferred to a convalescent unit at Ripon for soldiers deemed not yet fit to rejoin their regiment.
On 25th October 1918 Henry was posted to 5th (Reserve) battalion Durham Light Infantry at Sutton –on-Hull remaining there until at least 10th November 1918. He was discharged to the Army Z Reserve on 13th February 1919. It is likely that he recovered from his wounds as there is no evidence of any claim and his discharge papers medically categorise him as “A”.
Henry Robinson would have returned to his wife and three children in February 1919.In 1920 he was awarded the British and Victory Medals for his service to his country. Sometime after his return he and his family moved to live at 68 Springstone Avenue and he was living with them there at the time of his early death, aged 37 years, in November 1929.
Fittingly, Henry was buried at Ossett Holy Trinity Church on 11th November 1929 just one whole year to the day after the unveiling and dedication of the Ossett War Memorial on Kingsway on 11th November 1928. Henry Robinson’s army service record indicated his religion was Church of England even though he married at a Congregational Church. The burial ceremony was conducted by the Minister of the United Methodist Church on Dale Street.
Sadly, in July 1930 just eight months after her father, Henry Robinson, had died, their only daughter, Gladys, also passed away. Gladys was just 14 years of age. On 15th July 1930 Gladys was buried at Ossett Holy Trinity Church. The burial ceremony was conducted by the Minister of the United Methodist Church on Dale Street.
In 1939, ten years after his death, Henry’s widow, Rosa Robinson (nee Robinson) was living at 1 Vernon Terrace with their two sons. Frank born 1914 was a wool and cotton dyer and had volunteered as a Special Constable. Henry junior, born 1918, was an automobile motor – engineer. Widow Rosa Robinson married John Jarvis in late 1945 and she died in late 1978, aged 85.
Alan Howe & Mark Smith written for Ossett Heritage.
January 2022.
