Cpl 24244 William James Keningale Robbins

William James Keningale Robbins was born in Lymington, Hampshire on 29th September 1886 the son of Alfred Robbins and his wife Edith Maria (née Bellinger).His civil birth registration shows his name as William James, while his baptism shows the added middle name Keningale. He was baptised in Dowdeswell, Gloucestershire, on 26th December 1886, his parents’ residence given as Roath, Cardiff, and his father’s occupation listed as engineer.  His parents, both born in Gloucestershire, his father in Dowdeswell, and his mother in Whittington, married in Gloucester in 1881 and had eight children. William had older sisters Georgiana and Helen, and younger siblings Jessie, Frank, twins Constance and Mabel, and Dorothy.
 

By 1891 his father’s job has taken the family to Cheshire, where they live at The Village, Thelwall (east of Warrington). His father is a mechanical engineer superintendent. They have five children. William is 4. Their newborn son as yet unnamed is two days old (later named Alfred Frank).  

 

Three more daughters were added to the family, Constance and Mabel, followed by Dorothy. Sadly, his sister Jessie died in 1898 aged 9.

 

In 1901 they are living at Rose Bank, Grappenhall, Cheshire with seven children. His father is a dredging contractor agent (mechanical engineer), William is 14.

 

By 1911 his parents have moved to Brislingdon, Bristol, where his father, 54, is proprietor of the White Hart Hotel, his mother is  49, Mabel and Constance, 17, and Dorothy, 15, assist in the business. William has not been found on the census.

 

It is not known if William pursued further education or what occupation he followed after leaving school. It appears he stayed in the north of England, as SDGW shows that he enlisted in Liverpool, as Private 24244, 19th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment. Based on the amount of the War Gratuity, he served for just under two years, enlisting in about April 1915.

 

William shipped to France with his battalion, disembarking at Boulogne on 07th November 1915. He earned promotion to Corporal. He was killed in action on 21st March 1917 aged 30.

He now rests at Bucquoy Road Cemetery in France at VI.H.20 where his headstone bears the epitaph:

"THAT PEACE WHICH THE WORLD CANNOT GIVE"  

In November 1916, the village of Ficheux was behind the German front line, but by April 1917, the German withdrawal had taken the line considerably east of the village and in April and May, the VII Corps Main Dressing Station was posted near for the Battles of Arras. It was followed by the 20th and 43rd Casualty Clearing Stations, which remained at Boisleux-au-Mont until March 1918, and continued to use the Bucquoy Road Cemetery begun by the field ambulances. From early April to early August 1918 the cemetery was not used but in September and October, the 22nd, 30th and 33rd Casualty Clearing Stations came to Boisleux-au-Mont and extended it. By the date of the Armistice, it contained 1,166 burials but was greatly increased when graves were brought in from the surrounding battlefields and from small cemeteries in the neighbourhood. 

The cemetery now contains 1,901 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 168 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 23 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials commemorate 21 casualties buried by their comrades in Henin-sur-Cojeul German Cemetery, whose graves could not be found on concentration.

The cemetery was used again in May 1940 for the burial of troops killed during the German advance. There are 136 burials and commemorations of the Second World War; 26 of the burials are unidentified and special memorials commemorate 39 soldiers whose graves in the cemetery could not be specifically located. 

William earned his three medals.

 

His parents received his Army effects, including a War Gratuity of £11.  A pension card has not been found, indicating that William lived independently at the time of his enlistment.

 

His father retired and died in January 1919 in Clevedon, Somerset.

 

In 1939 his mother, 78 and incapacitated, is living with married daughter Georgiana at 286 Fishponds Road, Bristol. She died in 1943 in a nursing home in Harrow, Middlesex, leaving over £2,000 to daughter Georgiana.

 

William is commemorated on his father’s gravestone in St. Andrew Churchyard, Clevedon, Somerset: