BORN BEVERLEY. SON OF JOHN AND ANNIE WILLIAMSON, OF 39 ST ANDREW’S SSTREET, BEVERLEY, (CWGC ADDRESS). ENLISTED SCARBOROUGH. SERVED WITH “C” COMPANY, 5TH YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION, 28/03/1918, AGED 26. HE IS COMMEMORATED ON THE POZIERES MEMORIAL, SOMME, FRANCE.
HIS NAME IS ALSO LISTED ON BEVERLEY MEMORIAL HALL ROLL OF HONOUR AND RECORDED ON THE BEVERLEY WAR MEMORIAL, MEMORIAL GARDENS.
Robert was born in 1892 and in 1911, aged 19 was employed as a compositor by Wright & Hoggard, who published the Beverley Guardian. He enlisted in the Yorkshire Regiment (Beverley Terriers) and embarked for France on 18 April 1915, the same day as his younger brother Arthur, who served in the same regiment. Having been transferred into the 5th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment, “C” Company, Robert took part in action when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields in March and April 1918 and he was killed in action on 28 March 1918, unmarried and aged 26.
Robert has no known grave, he is remembered with Honour at the Pozieres Memorial, and on the Beverley War Memorial.
