Profile

ROBINSON, John James
(Service number 15969)

Aliases
First Rank Rifleman Last Rank Rifleman

Birth

Date 23 November 1887 Place of Birth Woodbury, South Canterbury

Enlistment Information

Date 15 March 1916 Age 28 years 4 months
Address at Enlistment Four Peaks, Canterbury
Occupation Farmer
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Mrs M. ROBINSON (mother), Four Peaks, Canterbury
Religion Anglican
Medical Information Height 5 feet 4½ inches. Weight 151 lbs. Chest measurement 31-35 inches. Complexion fair. Eyes grey. Hair dark. Sight - both eyes 6/6. Hearing dood. Limbs well formed. Full and perfect movement of all joints. Chest well formed. Heart and lungs normal. Teeth fair. No illnesses. Free from hernia, varicocele, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Vaccinated. Good bodily and mental health. No slight defects. No fits.

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation New Zealand Rifle Brigade
Unit, Squadron, or Ship 6th Reinforcements 3rd Battalion, G Company
Date 26 July 1916
Transport Waitemata or Ulimoara
Embarked From Wellington Destination Devonport, England
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With NZ Rifle Brigade

Military Awards

Campaigns Western European
Service Medals British War Medal; Victory Medal
Military Awards

Award Circumstances and Date

No information

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date 17 May 1918 Reason No longer physically fit for war service on account of wounds received in action.

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Returned home by hospital ship, invalided, January 1918.

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 24 July 1957 Age 70 years
Place of Death Four Peaks, Geraldine (residence)
Cause
Notices Timaru Herald, 26 July 1957
Memorial or Cemetery Cremated Christchurch; ashes interred at Woodbury Cemetery
Memorial Reference C1
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Son of Joseph ROBINSON & Mary (nee MOSSOP) ROBINSON. Educated at Woodbury School. Married Mary Elizabeth JOHNSTON, on 26 April 1922, at Washdyke, Timaru. Two sons & two daughters. Returned home invalided in 1918. Brothers Joseph & Thomas Mossop ROBINSON also served in WWI. John married Mary Elizabeth JOHNSTON on 26 April 1922 at Washdyke.

A descendant commented:

"John went into D Company in the 3rd Batallion of the Rifle Brigade in France on October 21 1916. He was part of the reinforcements that brought the Brigade up to strength again after the losses it incurred at the Battle of the Somme. He served through the Battle of Messines (where D Company was in the first attacking wave). He was wounded in action on the 1st October 1917 somewhere between Hooge and the front line, where his company were digging ditches and burying telephone cables deep enough to withstand a shell burst. He was caught in the chest in front of his left shoulder by a shrapnel burst. This was a major wound which opened up his chest cavity. He was transferred to a base hospital at Brockenhurst, Hampshire, England and embarked on his journey home aboard the ‘Maheno’, arriving in Auckland on the 3rd February 1918."

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [03 February 2014]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ ref. AABK 18805 W5550 0099009) [26 August 2014]; Woodbury Cemetery, Geraldine - transcription (www.rootsweb.ancestry.com) [03 February 2014]; Timaru Herald, 5 & 7 April 1916, 24 June 1916, 31 January 1918, 2 February 1918, 21 May 1918, 26 July 1918, 4 February 1919, Otago Witness, 31 October 1917 (Papers Past) [04 February 2014; 06 March 2014; 10 January 2016; 13 January 2019]; ancestry.com.au [16 February 2014]; Timaru Herald, 26 July 1957 (Timaru District Library) [29 August 2014]; Presbyterian Marriage Certificate (South Canterbury Museum) [20 June 2014]; Probate record (Archives NZ/FamilySearch) [09 January 2016]; SCRoll web submission by M Robinson, 25 April 2023.

External Links

Related Documents

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TS

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