Charles Walter's Story.
EARLY LIFE
Charles Walter Robinson was born on 17 September 1880 in Tonbridge, Kent, the son of Elizabeth Jane (nee Weston) and Robert Robinson, a dispenser and insurance agent. In 1881 seven-month-old Charles with living at 17 Lodge Field Road, Tonbridge, with his parents and one-year-old brother Robert Wilkin Robinson.
The family had moved to 11 Westwood Terrace, Leek, Staffordshire by April 1888, and Charles and Robert attended Leek Wesleyan Day School in West Street. By 1891, ten-year-old Charles was living at 71 Grove Street, Leek with his parents and siblings Robert (11), Arthur (9), Lily (4), Margaret (3) and Harry (1).
Before 1901, the family moved again, to 2 North Street, Leek, and that year's census entry also included seventeen-year-old Mabel and three-year-old Percy. By that time Charles had left school and was working as a silk warehouseman. By 1911 the family had moved again, to 18 Westwood Road, Leek, and Charles, aged 30 but still unmarried, was working as manager of a silk reel warehouse. Older brother Robert Wilkin Robinson was by this time married and living in Pownall Street, Macclesfield.
Charles' father Robert Robinson died on 2 November 1914 and his mother later lived at 49 Grange Road, Ryles Park, Macclesfield.
WW1 SERVICE
Charles enlisted early in the war at Stoke-on-Trent, joining the 20th Hussars with service number 28631. He was later transferred to the 1st Hampshire Regiment with service number 16948 and drafted to France, disembarking on 27 July 1915.
The war diary for the 1st Hampshire Regiment reported on 29th July 1915 that the battalion relieved the 62nd Infantarie (French) in trenches north of Hamel; also that "The trenches are extraordinarily comfortable, with huge dug-outs several feet below the earth. The Germans too are very quiet with hardly any sniping or shooting with guns. Battn. headquarters is in a house in Hamel - very comfortable indeed. We even have the cookers with[in] a mile so that the men in the trenches can have hot meals."
The battalion was again in the trenches at Hamel on 12 September 1915 but no casualties were recorded. However, the diary does report a German bombardment on 2 September 1915 resulting in "a few casualties", so it is possible that this is the date on which Corporal Robinson was killed in action, rather than 12 September 1915.
COMMEMORATION
Corporal Charles Robinson is buried in grave ref. I. C. 13. in Hamel Military Cemetery, Beaumont-Hamel, France. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission holds casualty details for Corporal Charles Robinson.
In Macclesfield, Corporal Charles Robinson is commemorated on the Park Green, Town Hall and St Michael’s Church war memorials, and on the St John's Church Roll of Honour (where he is listed as Charles William Robinson).
Elsewhere, he is remembered on the Nicholson Memorial in Leek, Staffordshire.
SOURCES
GRO (England & Wales) Index: Births, Marriages, Deaths
Census (England & Wales): 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911
National School Admission Registers for Staffordshire (FindMyPast)
Soldiers Died in the First World War (FindMyPast)
British Army Medal Index Cards (Ancestry)
WWI Pension Record Cards (WFA/Ancestry/Fold3)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Nicholson Memorial website (www.nicholsonmemorial.org.uk)
Research by Rosie Rowley, Macclesfield.