Name
Lionel William Robinson
1891
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
15/07/1916
25
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Sergeant
10694
Bedfordshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 2C
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Welwyn village memorials, Beccles War Memorial, Suffolk
Pre War
Lionel William Robinson was born early in 1891 in Beccles, Suffolk, the eldest son of William and Jane Robinson who were then living in Denmark Road, Beccles indeed, on the 1891 Census Lionel was said to be 1 month old. His father was working as a Printer Compositor. Sadly his father died in 1898 and by the 1901 Census he was living with his widowed mother and siblings Mable, Alice and Donald at 2 Windsor Cottages, Denmark Road. His mother was working as a dressmaker and lodging house keeper, and three lodgers are listed with the family on the Census form.
On the 1911 Census, Lionel was living at 33 Regents Square, St Pancras, London and working as a Club Clerk (Shorthand Typist) at the National Sporting Club. He was said to be living in Welwyn on enlistment.
His mother later lived at 37 Ballygate, Beccles.
Wartime Service
Lionel enlisted in Luton, Bedfordshire and joined the 6th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, serving in France from 30 July 1915.
He gained promotion to Sergeant but was killed in action on 15 July 1916, aged 25, during an attack on Pozieres where the battalion were held up by hostile machine gun fire and sustained heavy casualties.
He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His mother was awarded a war gratuity of £12 and his pay owing of £10 12s 4d. She also received a pension of five shillings a week.
On some records Lionel is incorrectly listed as Leonard.
His brother Donald served with the Suffolk Regiment and survived the war.
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper, Brenda Palmer
