Name
Robert William Thomas Christian
1888
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
15/02/1917
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Sergeant
45258
Royal Field Artillery
82nd Battery
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BAGHDAD (NORTH GATE) WAR CEMETERY
XXI.W.17.
Iraq
Headstone Inscription
IN DEATH UNITED
UK & Other Memorials
St Mary's Church Memorial, Shephall, Diocese - Book of Remembrance, St Albans Cathedral, St Albans, Diocese of St Albans - ROH, St Albans Cathedral, St Albans, Not on the Stevenage Old Town memorials
Pre War
Robert William Thomas Christian was born in 1888 in Portsea Island, Eastney, Hampshire, the son and oldest child of William and Louisa Christian, and was baptised on 17 June 1900 at Christchurch, East Greenwich, London, along with his sisters Florence and Jessie and brother Laud.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at 24 Bellot Street, Greenwich, where his father was working as a porter at the Royal Naval College. They remained in Greenwich in 1901, then living at 49 Calvert Road. His father died in 1902 and by 1911 Robert had joined the Royal Field Artillery and was serving with the 82nd Battery as Acting Bombardier in Kirkee, India.
He married Elizabeth Sara Spicer in St John's Church, Colaba, Maharashtra, India on 12 February 1911 and their son Robert was born on Christmas Day 1911 in Kirkee, India.
Wartime Service
Robert was already a serving soldier at the outbreak of war, having joined the Royal Field Artillery, and served with them in Mesopotamia (Iraq) from 17 November 1914.
Information on his widow's pension card states that he died on 14 February 1917 whilst a prisoner of war in Turkey, although the Register of Soldiers' Effects records that his date of death was between 29 April 1916 and 15 December 1917. Robert is buried in the Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, Iraq.
Additional Information
His widow obtained probate of his estate on 25 November 1918 with effects of £55 0s 9d. She received a war gratuity of £17 10s and pay owing of £46 4s 9d. She also received a pension £1 2s 11d a week for herself and son Robert and later lived at Shephall, nr Stevenage, Herts (address shown on the Pension Card and Medal Card).
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Paul Johnson, www.stevenageatwar.com
