BORN HULL JUNE 1888. SON OF EDMUND WILLIAM ANNIS AND ELIZABETH MONKTON (1856-1921). SON OF A BRICKLAYER. ONE OF EIGHT CHILDREN. EMPLOYED AS A NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY RULLYMAN.
HE MARRIED AT HULL HOLY TINITY, ON 26/12/1910. HIS WIFE, BLANCHE KYNMAN (1888-1915), LIVED AT 7, CARRINGTON AVENUE, DE LA POLE AVENUE, HULL (1911 CENSUS). THEY HAD ONE SON ERNEST (1911-1962) AND DAUGHTER, IVY ANNIS (1913-1914).
ROBERT ENLISTED IN HULL. SERVED WITH THE “HULL COMMERCIALS”, IN EGYPT AND FRANCE. KILLED IN ACTION, AT OPPY WOOD, ON 03/05/1917, AGED 29.
HIS NAME IS LISTED ON ST MATTHEWS CHURCH, BOULEVARD. HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, 19/06/1917.
HIS WIDOW, BLANCHE DIED IN 1915. HIS SON WAS LEFT WITH A GUARDIAN, FANNY KYNMAN, AT 15 EGTON STREET, CLEVELAND STREET, HULL. THE MOTHERLESS RATE FOR A ORPHAN WAS 7 SHILLINGS A WEEK, AWARDED , ON 01/01/1918. (WAR PENSION RECORDS)
The attack on Oppy Wood, part of the Battle of Arras, was a significant battle for the East Yorkshire Regiment and particularly for the city of Hull. All four Hull Pals battalions were involved on 3 May and all suffered heavy casualties, with 40% of those present killed or injured. 2nd Lieutenant Jack Harrison, a local teacher and rugby player with Hull FC, won a posthumous Victoria Cross for his bravery in rushing a machine gun position to protect his platoon. His body was never found.
The village of Oppy in France had been in German hands since October 1914 and was part of a formidable defensive system including trenches, dug-outs and thick barbed wire defences. During the Battle of Arras, which began in April 1917, the British tried to take Oppy. The first attack was a failure. A second attack was partially successful. The third attack on 3 May, known officially as the Third Battle of the Scarpe, was again unsuccessful with significant loss of life. The troops were ordered to attack at 3.45am, rather than at dawn, and the defending Germans could easily see the line of British soldiers clearly lit by the full moon. The British continued to attack Oppy and were finally successful the following year. The City of Hull Memorial at Oppy was unveiled in 1927 and commemorates the men of the Hull Pals who were killed on 3 and 4 May 1917.
