Family Background

John Alexander Robinson was born on 16 December 1891 in Manchester, Lancashire, to Margaret Harvey, age 22, and Edwin Penny Robinson, age 27. He was one of ten children, the third oldest. In 1911, he resided at 70 Royds Street, Accrington, Lancashire, England.

He married Catherine Hood Robson in July 1913 in Bolton, Lancashire. They had one child during their marriage in April 1914. They named him John Alexander Robinson - My wonderful Grandfather! On 9 Apr 1914 they are recorded as living at 50 Beatrice Street, Horwich, Lancashire, England.

John Senior had already enlisted in the army at this point. Catherine was likely praying for his return to herself and their son. He died as a young father on 8 May 1915 in the Frezenberg trenches at the age of 23. His Service number was 16982, he was part of the Kings own Lancaster Regiment, 2nd Battalion. He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.

Some information (two sources) about this action in which he lost his life is below:

FREZENBURG May 1915 (1)

1/5th King's Own, had been mauled for four days by close-range artillery fire. This line of so-called trenches was nothing more than a shallow ditch, 2.5 feet deep in water in places, with no sandbags, wire or any overhead cover. All requests by the CO of the 1/5th, for materials to strengthen this line or even spades (the 1/5th had been ordered to leave theirs at Polygon Wood in April) were ignored.

On their relief by 2nd King's Own on the night of 6 May, they had just 398 officers and men left, 100 of whom were deemed 'sick' by the MO, but chose to remain at duty. Lt-Col Cavendish wrote in his diary, "This position is untenable."

Numbers of the 1/5th were ex-regulars from the 2nd; many of the battalion had brothers or cousins in it; and just about everyone in the battalion had been to school with men from 2nd King's Own, so when they were told they would be re-taking these positions later that day, they were up for it. 

At 3 p.m. on 8 May, they counter-attacked, numbers boosted to 550 by the 40 men from 2nd King's Own who came out of the Frezenberg trenches that morning, the second line of 2nd King's Own and the remnants of 3rd Monmouths. Sadly, the attack was cut to pieces by enfilading machine gun fire and German artillery, and was totally unsupported by any British artillery.

This counter-attack, across a mile of open country, got to got to within 300 yards of their objective. At the end of the day, the fighting strength of 1/5th King's Own was less than 200 men - it had been nearly 1,000 at the beginning of April. 83 Brigade lost 4,507 killed, wounded or missing between 23 April and 8 May. Brave men all.

FREZENBURG May 1915 (2)

On 4 May, 1915, the battalion marched out to relieve the 5th Bn The King's Own Regiment, in the trenches in front of Frezenburg, which were new and had not been completed. The enemy shelled the trenches intermittently between 5-7 May, and on 8 May, at 7.00 am, shelled them again, blowing them in and making them untenable. The enemy then advanced and captured the front line trenches, and advanced against the support dugouts, but were held about 200 yards from them. At 11.35 am the battalion was ordered to retire to Potijze. The battalion lost: 5 officers killed; 4 wounded; 5 wounded and prisoner; 2 wounded and missing; and 4 missing. The other ranks sustained 36 killed; 110 wounded; 31 wounded and missing; and 721 missing. The battalion had virtually ceased to exist.

The Cost:

For the period from the 4th to 9th May 1915, when the battalion were in the trenches the casualty roll was Officers: Killed 4, Wounded 5, Wounded and Prisoner 2, Wounded and Missing 1, Missing 4. Other Ranks: Killed 36, Wounded 110, Wounded and Missing 31, Missing 721.

Eleven hundred strong at the beginning of May 8, by the end of that day the battalion could only muster 67, and after all those had re-joined who had become detached in the fighting the casualties were eventually found to be 15 officers and 893 other ranks on that day alone. The casualties suffered by the Regiment on that day were the worst in its history. 

Of the approximately 1000 King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment names on the Menin Gate, Ypres, 1 in 30 are from the 2nd Battalion, killed at Frezenburg on May 8th.