Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Clifford Kossuth Robinson was born on 27 December 1889 at Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, the second of the five sons of Kossuth and Mary Selina (née Wathen) Robinson, of 47 Downleaze, Stoke Bishop, Bristol, England. He was educated at Clifton College and, on leaving in 1907, became a chartered accountant. Clifford was at home with family in 1891 and 1901 at Westbury, Gloucestershire. In 1911, Clifford Kossuth Robinson, an articled clerk to an accountant, was again at home in Bristol, England, with his family, including his brothers Edward Colston and Geoffrey Wathen Robinson. By 8 December 1915, these three brothers had all been lost in their service in the First World War. His older brother, Arnold Wathen Robinson, a noted stained-glass artist, also served in World War I, in the Artists Rifles; he was released to continue war work.

In 1915, however, Clifford was farming in New Zealand and, when he enlisted for war service with the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, he gave his address as Gleniti, Timaru, where his uncle lived. His employer was J. Bolton, of “Broomfields” Woodville, with whom he was residing in 1914. Clifford Robinson may well be the C. K. Robinson who left London on 25 September 1913 on the “Remuera” and arrived at Wellington on about 9 November. He was single and a Baptist, in which church his father, a man of delicate health, served and took a keen interest. His father – Mr Kossuth Robinson, 47 Downleaze, Bristol, England – was his nominated next-of-kin. Clifford was 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighed 134 pounds, and had a chest measurement of 31-35 inches. He had had four years’ previous service with the R.F.A. (Territorial), when his time expired and he left the district.

Clifford Kossuth Robinson enlisted on 15 March 1915, aged 25 years, after arriving at camp at Trentham. He was promoted from Trooper to Corporal in April 1915, the recorded rank being corrected to Lance-Corporal. He embarked from Wellington on 14 August 1915 by the “Tofua”, with the 6th Reinforcements who reached Suez on 19 September 1915. Arriving at Anzac on 13 November 1915, he was posted to the 8th Mounted Rifles. But his time at the Dardanelles, Gallipoli was brief. Eleven days later he disembarked at Malta from the Hospital Ship “Galatea” and was admitted to Cottonera Hospital. On 26 November he was transferred to Imtarfa Hospital in Malta, dangerously ill with pneumonia. He died of enteric there on 8 December 1915, just 25 years old and less than four months after he had left New Zealand’s shores. With Clifford’s death, Mr and Mrs Robinson had lost three sons within the space of eight weeks.

He was interred with an Australian and an Englishman, who had also failed to convalesce, in a communal grave in the Pieta Military Cemetery, a peaceful place on the Island of Malta where he had been sent initially to convalesce. A communication to his father, dated 4 April [1916] provided the information that Clifford was interred in the Pieta Cemetery, Malta.

The total value of Clifford’s estate in New Zealand was £5.1.- of pay accrued to death. Administration of his estate in England was granted to his father, there being effects to the value of £163.15s. Clifford’s medals – 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal - were sent to his father at Downlease, Bristol, as were the memorial plaque and scroll. His brothers Edward Colston Robinson and Geoffrey Wathen Robinson also fell in World War I - both killed in France, Edward aged 21 on 26 September 1915 and Geoffrey aged 20 on 25 September 1915. He was a cousin of Claude Gladstone Robinson and Frank McLaren Robinson of Gleniti, both of whom served in World War I, Claude being killed in action in 1915 at the Somme. Another cousin, Eric Arthur Robinson died in September 1916, of wounds received at the Somme. Mr Kossuth Robinson died in 1928 at Bristol, survived by two of his five sons, and Mrs Robinson in 1941, survived by only one son.

Clifford Kossuth Robinson is rememebered on the Timaru War Memorial Wall, the Woodville War Memorial, the ANZAC Memorial, Argotti Botanical Gardens, Floriana, Malta, and Stoke Bishop War Memorial, Bristol. The Anzac Memorial, inaugurated on 25 May 2013 in the Argotti Gardens, Floriana, is inscribed with the names of the Australian and New Zealand men who lost their lives. Each year on 25 April, a remembrance service is held in Pieta Military Cemetery, Malta, to recognize the part played by men from Australia and New Zealand in the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign, during the First World War. To mark the 100th anniversary in 2015, the remembrance service was co-hosted by the Australian High Commissioner and the New Zealand Honorary Consul.

Woodville did not forget Clifford Robinson. The town’s soldiers’ memorial, erected to perpetuate the memory of the men of the town and district who gave their lives in the Great War, was unveiled on 21 November 1926. “1914-1918” is engraved at the top of the simple, yet dignified and impressive monument and beneath the names is the inscription: “Remember with thanksgiving the true and faithful men who in these years of war went forth from this place for God and the right. The names of those who returned not again are here inscribed to be honoured for evermore.” The names of 81 men are recorded, including C. K. Robinson. Many beautiful floral tributes were placed at the base of the cenotaph. A guard of honour was formed, the National Anthem and the hymn “O God Our Help in Ages Past” were sung, a brief prayer was offered and several suitable addresses were delivered. After the singing of Kipling’s “Recessional,” the unveiling was carried out, and the ceremony concluded with the hymn “Abide With Me”, the Benediction and the sounding of “The Last Post”. Eighty-one rata tree seedlings, each representing a Woodville man killed in the war, were planted at a reserve near the township by Woodville School pupils in August 2016. Soldiers from Linton Military Camp dug the holes. The ceremony was attended by people from the community, the Returned Services Association, the army, councillors, and the school children.

The Stoke Bishop War Memorial Cross, which stands on the corner of Stoke Hill and Downleaze, Stoke Bishop, Bristol, was dedicated on 15 May 1920 by the Bishop of Bristol. The west face of the plinth is inscribed: IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF

STOKE BISHOP MEN WHO GAVE

THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR

1914-1918

“HE THAT DOETH THE WILL

OF GOD ABIDETH FOREVER.

WHO STANDS IF FREEDOM FALL

WHO DIES IF ENGLAND LIVE.”

On other faces of the plinth and step are inscribed with the names of the fallen, 62 for World War I.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [1 December 2013]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ ref. AABK 18805 W5550 0098938 [17 April 2014]; CWGC (Certificate) [1 December 2013]; Photographic display of Mounted Rifles headstones on the Island of Malta (Newsletter of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles - www.nzmr.org/archive) [1 December 2013]; ANZACS IN MALTA (Malta Family History - website.lineone.net/~remosliema/anzacs_in_malta) [02 February 2014]; England & Wales National Probate Calendar Index (ancestry.com.au) [2 February 2014]; England census records 1891, 1901, 1911 (ancestry.com.au) [02 February 2014, 24 May 2015]; Family Trees (ancestry.com.au) [15 February 2014; 24 May 2015]; New Zealand Times, 31 October 1913, Evening Post, 18 March 1915, 2 & 11 December 1915, Dominion, 3 & 13 December 1915,Timaru Herald, 3, 13 & 27 December 1915, Woodville Examiner, 13 December 1913, Otago Daily Times, 3 February 1916, Otago Witness, 15 March 1916, Manawatu Standard, 22 November 1926 (Papers Past) [04 February 2014; 23 May 2015; 21 & 25 May 2020]; The Times, London, England, 14 December 1915; UK newspaper extracts 1915, 1928 (source unknown) [15 February 2014, 24 May 2015]; Probate record (Archives NZ/FamilySearch) [09 May 2015]; England & Wales Probate Calendar Index (ancestry.com.au) [02 February 2014]; ANZAC Memorial, Malta (www.mccv.org.au) [24 May 2015]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au); BRISTOL AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR – THE GREAT READING ADVENTURE 2014 [23 May 2015]; Woodville War Memorial (https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/woodville-war-memorial) [21/05/2020]; Manawatu Standard, 2 September 2016 (www.stuff.co.nz) [21 May 2020]; Stoke Bishop memorial (https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1427162) [21 May 2020]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

TS