L/Cpl 17144 Robert John Roberts

• Age: 23
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 1st July 1916
• Commemorated at: Danzig Alley Cem, Mametz
  Panel Ref: IV.S.4

17144 Lance Corporal Robert John ROBERTS, 18^th Battalion KLR.

Robert John “Bob” Roberts was born on 14th April 1894 in Liverpool, the second of four sons born to Robert John Roberts of Llandygai, Caernarvonshire and his wife Jane (nee Morgan) who was born in Liverpool. 

The 1901 Census finds the family living at 126 Northumberland Street, Toxteth Park, Liverpool. His father is listed as a 41 year old compositor whilst his mother is 37 years of age. There are five children listed in the household; Ellen Roberts aged 17 employed as a domestic servant, Evan aged 8, Robert aged 7, Thomas A. aged 4 and Osborne M. aged 3.
 
By 1911 the family had moved to 372 Smithdown Road, Liverpool. Both parents are still in the household and they state that they have been married for 21 years and have had five children who have all survived. His father is now 52 years of age and a Private Secretary for a forwarding agent, whilst his mother is 47 years old. There are again five children listed but there is no sign of Ellen who was originally stated as a daughter in 1901 then aged 17. However, those listed are; Annie aged 20, Evan John now 18 and a railway clerk, Robert John aged 17 and a clerk in a tobacco factory, Aneuryn Thomas aged 14 and an apprentice in a forwarding agents and Osborne Morgan aged 13, at school. There is also a boarder present at the property.   

Robert junior was educated at Holt High School and subsequently taking up a position as a clerk with Ogden’s Branch of Imperial Tobacco Company. 

He enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool on 01^st September 1914, giving his age as 20 years 141 days, his occupation as clerk and his next of kin as his parents 96 Russell Road, Sefton Park, Liverpool. He is described as being 5' 7" tall, weight 128lbs, 36" chest, with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and sandy hair. His religion is noted as "other Protestant"

From the 23^rd September 1914 he was billeted at Hooton Park Race Course and remained there until 03^rd December 1914 when they moved into the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 18th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

On 01^st November 1915 he was promoted to Lance Corporal and crossed to France with his Battalion on board the SS Invicta on the 07th November 1915. He was attached to 2^nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment between 1^st and 5^th April 1916 before returning to his Battalion.

He was killed in action at Montauban on 01^st July 1916, aged 23.

18^th Battalion Diary

At 6.30am the artillery commenced an intensive bombardment of the enemy’s trenches. Zero Hour – 7.30 am – the battalion commenced to leave their trenches and the attack commenced. The attack was pressed with great spirit and determination in spite of heavy shelling and machine gun enfilade fire which caused casualties amounting to 2/3rds of the strength of the Battalion in action. The whole system of German trenches including the Glatz Redoubt was captured without any deviation from the scheduled programme. Consolidated positions and made strong points for defence against possible counter attacks.

Graham Maddocks provides more detail concerning the events of the day:

As the first three waves began to move forward towards the German reserve line, known as Alt Trench and then on to the Glatz Redoubt itself, they suddenly came under enfilading fire from the left. This was from a machine gun which the Germans had sited at a strong point in Alt Trench. The gun itself was protected by a party of snipers and bombers, who, hidden in a rough hedge, were dug into a position in Alt Trench, at its junction with a communication trench known as Alt Alley. These bombers and snipers were themselves protected by rifle fire from another communication trench, Train Alley which snaked back up the high ground and into Montauban itself. The machine gun fire was devastating and it is certain that nearly of the Battalion’s casualties that day were caused by that one gun.  

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Trotter  wrote in the conclusion of his account of the days action:

I cannot speak to highly of the gallantry of the Officers and men. The men amply repaid the care and kindness of their Company Officers, who have always tried to lead and not to drive. As laid down in my first lecture to the Battalion when formed, in the words of Prince Kraft:

“Men follow their Officers not from fear, but from love of the Regiment where everything had always and at all times gone well with them”.    

Joe Devereux in his book A Singular Day on the Somme gives the Casualty Breakdown for the 18^th Battalion as Killed in Action 7 Officers and 165 men and of those who died in consequence of the wounds 3 Officers and 19 men a total of 194 out of a total loss for the four Liverpool Pals Battalions of 257. 

Bob now rests at Dantzig Alley British Cemetery.

The village of Mametz was carried by the 7th Division on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, after very hard fighting at Dantzig Alley (a German trench) and other points. The cemetery was begun later in the same month and was used by field ambulances and fighting units until the following November. The ground was lost during the great German advance in March 1918 but regained in August, and a few graves were added to the cemetery in August and September 1918. At the Armistice, the cemetery consisted of 183 graves, now in Plot I, but it was then very greatly increased by graves (almost all of 1916) brought in from the battlefields north and east of Mametz and from certain smaller burial grounds.

Dantzig Alley British Cemetery now contains 2,053 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 518 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 17 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of 71 casualties buried in other cemeteries, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker. 

Robert is commemorated on the following Memorials:

Holt High School, Queens Drive, Childwall 

Imperial Tobacco company (Ogden’s) in Boundary Lane, Anfield

Wavertree Congregational Church, Hunters Lane, Wavertree, Liverpool. 

Both Evan and Robert John are commemorated in the Hall of Remembrance at Liverpool Town Hall on Panel 45.

We currently have no further information on Robert John Roberts, if you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.