Name
Robert Elliot Stavert
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
25/08/1918
31
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers)
4th (City of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BUCQUOY COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
B. 36.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Bushey Town Memorial, St James’ Church Memorial, Bushey, Bushey Conservative Club, St Matthew’s Church Memorial, Oxhey, St Matthew’s Church Roll of Honour, Oxhey
Pre War
Born in Bushey on 17 December 1886 and baptised on 10 December 1887 at St James’ church in Bushey, Robert Elliot Stavert was the son of Robert (Snr.) Elliot and Annie (nee Timberlake) Stavert. His parents were married on 24 April 1879 in the Parish Chapel, St Pancras, London. Robert (Snr.), a railway clerk, was 40 years old and a widower, and Annie was 23 years old.
Robert (Snr.) had previously married Mary Summerfield on 1 February 1862 in the Cathedral and Parish Church of Manchester and, at the 1871 census, they were living in Park Road, Bushey. Mary died in 1878 in the Watford registration district. It is not believed they had any children.
At the 1891 census, Robert (Jnr.) was four years old and living at 2 Bournehall Road in Bushey with his parents and three brothers. Their names were Andrew, James and Francis and they were 11, 6 and 7 months old, respectively. Robert (Snr.), a railway clerk, was 54 years old and Annie was 35 years old. Birthplaces for the family were given as Scotland for Robert, Edgware in Middlesex for Annie and Bushey for the four boys.
Robert (Snr.) died, aged 61, on 4 August 1899 and was buried on 5 August at Vicarage Road Cemetery in Watford. By the time of the 1901 census, Annie had moved to 3 Bournehall Road in Bushey and Robert (Jnr.) was 13 years old. Three of his siblings, Andrew, George and Margaret Rose, were also present. Annie was ‘living on own means’ and Andrew was a railway clerk. Also present was a 27-year-old boarder, who was an art student.
At the 1911 census, Annie and four of the children, Robert, Charles, George and Rosa, were still living at 3 Bournehall Road. Charles was working as an insurance agent and the other three children were working as railway clerks. Robert, now aged 24, was working for the London & North-Western Railway at Euston station.
Robert (Jnr.) married Mary Winifred Arnold on 17 July 1912 in the registration district of Ross in Herefordshire.
By 1915 Annie had moved to 14 King Edwards Road, Oxhey. She Annie died 4 December 1928 in Oxhey aged 93, and was buried 7 December at St James’, Bushey, Herts.
Wartime Service
Robert attested on 7 September 1914 at Edward Street, London N.W. in the Territorial Force for four years service in the U.K. as Private 2711 in the 3rd (City of London) Battalion of the London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers). He was working as a clerk for the London and North Western Railway, 27 years old and 5’11½” tall.
Robert served at Home from 7 September to 22 December 1914. He embarked from Southampton on 23 December 1914, arriving at Malta on 1 January 1915 where he served until 7 April 1915. He embarked from Malta on 8 April 1915, disembarked at Port Sudan on 19 April and served in Egypt until the 12 September 1915. He then embarked on 13 September 1915 from Alexandria for Gallipoli, where he served until 9 January 1916. During this period he was appointed Lance-Corporal on 13 September and promoted to Corporal. He was in the 3rd Australian General Hospital with trench feet and invalided to England on 3 January 1916 aboard Hospital Ship Britannic.
He served at Home again from 10 January to 24 October 1916, when he was discharged in consequence of being appointed on 15 November 1916 to a commission in the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion of the London Regiment. He served as Captain in the 4th (City of London) Battalion (Royal Fusiliers) on the Western Front and was killed in action, aged 31, on 25 August 1918. He was entitled to the Victory, British War and 1914-15 Star medals, his qualifying date being 19 April 1915. Mary applied for the Star medal.
Robert is remembered with honour at Bucquoy Communal Cemetery Extension in France. He is also commemorated on the Bushey Memorial, at St James’ Parish Church and at St Matthew’s Church, Oxhey.
The Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects names Winifred Mary Stavert as his legatee and shows a number of payments totalling over £100. There is also an entry for Robert in the National Probate Calendar for 1918, which reads: “STAVERT Robert Elliot of 6a Ye Corner, Aldenham-road, Oxhey, Hertfordshire died 25 August 1918 in France Administration (with Will) London 14 December to Winifred Mary Stavert widow. Effects £296 15s. 2d.”
There are articles about Robert in the West Herts and Watford Observer on 5 May 1917, on 29 September 1917 and on 7 September 1918, plus an In Memoriam in the issue dated 30 August 1919.
Roberts was a bell ringer at St James’ church, Bushey and a peal was rung there on 25 August 2018 in his memory. Mary remarried 1930 in the registration district of Thanet, Kent to Frederick R Lusher. She died, aged 89, in 1970 in the registration district of Teesside North, Yorkshire.
His younger brother, George James Stavert, was in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and died at Gallipoli on 14 July 1915.
Additional Information
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild, Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk)
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
