Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE ROBERT KIRBY 13/1482. Born in 1894, Robert was the youngest of seven children to William and Elizabeth Kirby of Pilmoor Lane, Roos, East Yorkshire. His father died when Robert was just two years-old and the family were raised on Elizabeth Kirby’s wage as a Charwoman. Times must have been hard. When war came Robert travelled to Hull and enlisted at City Hall joining the 13th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, 4th Hull Pals, “T’Others”. A veteran of Egypt, the Somme and Oppy Wood he transferred to the 11th when the battalions merged in February 1918; after suffering so many losses throughout 1916-17 all four of the Pals Battalions could not be maintained at fighting strength so the 12th and 13th were disbanded and merged with the 10th and 11th. There were too few of the Originals left to object to it on the grounds of the snobbery of 1914-15 and most of the faces now belonged to men born far away from Hull and its surrounding towns and villages. Robert Kirby was killed in action on 27th March 1918 during the first frantic days of the German Spring Offensive; his body was never recovered and his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial; he was 24 years old.
