Sergeant Robert Bain

Robert Bain born in August 1887 in Old Deer, Aberdeen. He was named after his brother who died aged 14 in May 1882 .His father, Robert Bain, was born in Forres Moray and was a farm labourer. As a widower he married New Deer born Isabella Florence Fraser on 30 August 1884. They went on to have three sons and three daughters. Sadly, their first born William Fraser Bain died aged 10 in 1895. Robert was the third child of their six children. He was baptised on 07th September 1887 in Old Deer Church. His father had four sons and three daughters from his first marriage to Helen Bisset who he married on 14th December 1867 in Rathen but she died in 1882 as did their son Robert aged 14. 

 

The 1891 Census shows Robert living with his parents and eleven remaining siblings at Old Deer, Aberdeen. 

 

In 1895 his eldest brother William Fraser Bain died aged 10.

 

In 1905 Robert and family sail to Boston Massachusetts USA  to live.

 

On 04th November 1908 Robert marries Waringstown, Belfast, born Jemima Ferguson in Boston. In August 1909 they have a son also named Robert but he dies aged 3 months and 10 days on 23rd November 1909. Just two days before on 21st November 1909 his father Robert died aged 64 in Fraserburgh, Aberdeen and is buried in Stuartfield Cemetery with his first wife and  two of his children. 

 

On 10th November 1910 Jemima and Robert have a daughter, Jane Isabella, born in Boston. on 03rd September 1913 they have a son William Alexander also born in Boston. 

 

In August 1915 they return to the U.K. Jemima is seven months pregnant, calling in on Jemima 's parents in Belfast where on 18 October 1915 she gives birth to their daughter Jemima Florence Bain.

 

Robert enlisted as Private 29156 in the 20th (Pals) Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment andwas promoted to Sergeant. He also served with the 19th Battalion K.L.R.


At some point he was transferred to the 6th King's.

 

In 1917 his half brother Charles Styles Bain is conscripted into the U.S. Army in Boston and sent to France.

Details of the action in which Robert was killed are shown below:

 

"On 1st September 1918 the 171st Brigade received orders to attack and capture Reincort with the 52nd Division attacking on the South.

 

Robert, aged 31, was one of the 114 Casualties 

He is now rests at  H.A.C. Cemetery, Ecoust - St- Mein, France.

 

The enemy positions from Doignies to Henin-sur-Cojeul, including the village of Ecoust, were captured on 2 April 1917, by the 4th Australian and 7th Divisions. This cemetery was begun by the 7th Division after the battle, when 27 of the 2nd H.A.C., who fell (with one exception) on the 31st March or the 1st April, were buried in what is now Plot I, Row A. After the German counter-attack near Lagnicourt on the 15th April, twelve Australian gunners were buried in the same row. Rows B, C and part of D were made in August and September 1918, when the ground had been recaptured by the 3rd Division after five months enemy occupation. The 120 graves thus made were the original H.A.C. Cemetery; but after the Armistice graves were added from the battlefields of Bullecourt and Ecoust and from a number of smaller burial grounds. There are now nearly 2,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over half are unidentified and special memorials are erected to 17 soldiers from the United Kingdom and 14 from Australia, known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of 34 soldiers from the United Kingdom, buried in other cemeteries, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire. The cemetery covers an area of 5,801 square metres and is enclosed by a low red brick wall.

 

His Soldiers Pay of £11 15s 6d was sent to his widow Jemima on 07th November 1918. A war gratuity of £18 was also sent to her on 05th December 1919 to 34 Sandymount Street, Belfast  which was presumably her parents address.

 

A pension payment is awarded to all three children until their 16th Birthday.

 

On 07th August 1920 his widow leaves Liverpool, the War Office pay for her and the children's repatriation to Quebec, Canada to live with her friend.

Jemima died in 1929 in a Toronto Hospital. 

 

All of Robert and Jemima's children lived in Canada and married there.

 

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

Grateful thanks are extended to "TICKETYBOO" for the assistance with the Research in this biography.