PRIVATE 036317 ARTHUR (KNOWN AS JACK) ROBINSON, ROYAL ARMY ORDNANCE CORPS. DIED 22nd OCTOBER 1918 AGED 26 YEARS.


PRIVATE 036317 ARTHUR (KNOWN AS JACK) ROBINSON, ROYAL ARMY ORDNANCE CORPS. DIED 22nd OCTOBER 1918 AGED 26 YEARS.


Jack Robinson was the second member of his family to die on the Western Front in 1918 as just two months earlier in August his older brother Bernard had succumbed to wounds received whilst serving with the Ilkley Pals.


John Robinson and his wife Harriet had brought up ten children in Ilkley including Jack and Bernard in the Ashgrove area of the town. A coal carter by calling John had employed Jack to help with deliveries to local customers. At the beginning of the war Jack had enlisted into a territorial unit of the Royal Field Artillery but had later been transferred into the army Ordnance Corps. This unit was responsible for priming and preparing shells for the artillery and was usually located away from the front line and in relative safety. Jack may have been wounded at some stage earlier in the war and thus not fully fit for front line service which may account for his move to the Army Ordnance Corps.

In mid October 1918 Jack was admitted to the 12 Casualty Clearing Station where, sadly, he died of pneumonia and it seems likely he was one of the many victims of the influenza pandemic known as ‘Spanish Flu’.

Today Jack Robinson lies in Blargies Communal Cemetery Extension and is remembered with pride on our war memorial in Ilkley.








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