Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

James Edward Robinson, known as Jim, was born on 7 September 1886 at Ellesmere, the first-born of Joseph and Margaret (née Sinclair) Robinson, of Claremont, eight of their ten children surviving infancy. He was educated at Gleniti and Claremont schools. The 1894 annual treat and distribution of prizes for Wai-iti School (Gleniti) was held shortly before Christmas. After various games and provisions were enjoyed, rain came and all had to go indoors. Among the prize winners was James Robinson of Standard I. In Standard II in 1896 at Claremont, he was the recipient of a prize – “good sound useful books”. After leaving school Jim worked on his father's farm, and before enlistment he was a farmer and road contractor on his own account, an occupation which he loved. He frequently tendered with the Levels County Council. In 1909 his tender of £120 for shingling Page’s road (a job estimated at £180) was accepted. He tendered successfully for 800 cubic yards of shingle on Old North Road in 1910, and the following year he was carting shingle at Levels Plains. A tender of £121 was accepted for earthworks and metal on Rosewill school road, one of several awarded in 1912. As late as November 1914 he had almost completed his contract on Seadown road. James was declared bankrupt in March 1915, after he had left for Trentham. His father and brother Frederick were to carry on his business; some payments had been made to creditors and assets (plant, sheep and horses) found to be sold.

In December 1912 James was best man at his eldest sister Sarah’s wedding. This sociable young man was surely at the dance given for the young people of the district by Mr and Mrs Robinson at their residence in the evening. His second sister, Mary, who had married a month earlier at her parent’s Claremont residence, died suddenly in 1917 in Dunedin. James took a leading part in social functions in the Claremont district, among these being treasurer for the Bachelors’ Ball in 1914, and was of a most congenial disposition. He, in turn, was well liked in the Claremont district.

A sizeable band of recruits from all parts of South Canterbury left for Trentham from the Timaru railway station on 15 January 1915, but without the enthusiasm and fanfare of earlier departures. The men, who “looked the proper part, especially those from the country who seemed very fit and sturdy,” were seen off by only a few of their particular friends. Some men tried to enliven the scene and sang “For they are Jolly good Fellows” and “Rule Britannia”, and as the train pulled out of the station cheers were given for the departing soldiers. At Christchurch they embarked on the ferry steamer for Wellington.

James Edward Robinson had previously served with the South Canterbury Mounted Rifles but had resigned before he enlisted on 12 January 1915 at the age of 28. He was 6 feet 3 inches tall, weighed 218 pounds, and had a chest measurement of 41-44 inches. His complexion was fair, his eyes grey, and his hair brown. His sight, hearing, colour vision and teeth were all good, his limbs and chest well formed, his heart and lungs normal. He was in good bodily and mental health, being free of all diseases and slight defects, vaccinated, and with no marks indicating congenital peculiarities or previous disease. A single man residing at Claremont, he named his father as next-of-kin - Joseph Robinson, Claremont, Timaru. After his father's death, his next-of-kin was his brother Joseph Robinson.

Private J. E. Robinson left with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion for Egypt on 17 April 1915, and on 8 June joined his Battalion. Less than four months after embarking – on 7 August 1915 at the Dardanelles, Private James Edward Robinson was killed in action. He had intended to serve for the duration of the war but would have seen barely two months in Egypt and at Gallipoli. James was a big, well-built man, in good physical shape – standing 6 feet 3 inches tall in his stockings and weighing 17 stone, but this was of no avail in the battle field. A number of South Canterbury members of the Expeditionary Forces were killed in the severe actions on Gallipoli on August 5, 6 and 7.

His medals (1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal), memorial plaque and scroll were sent to his brother, Mr J. Robinson, of Claremont, Timaru. This brother Joseph was advised in 1920 that, both parents being deceased (their father died in 1916 and their mother in 1915) and there being no one in receipt of a pension, he was not entitled to receive any gratuity in the estate of James. When his father's estate was being administered in 1917, a voucher for £9.10.8 was paid to the Public Trustee from James’s estate. At this time, the Public Trustee applied to administer the estate of James Edward Robinson. On 9 October 1967, issue of the Gallipoli Medallion was authorised.

His brother Joseph Robinson, who served in World War I, gave an item at James’s farewell function. His brother Frederick was drawn in the ballot in 1917 but his appeal was dismissed as he was passed as fit only for Home Service. In September 1916 Frederick had worn fancy costume (Breakdown) for the Euchre Club’s fund-raising efforts in aid of the Red Cross. James was much mourned by his siblings who inserted a passionate memorial notice in the Timaru Herald in 1916 - For King and Country.

Oh! We’re leaving him, leaving him,

Sleeping where he died,

Leaving him, leaving him,

In his glory and his pride.

Round him sea and barren land

Over him the sky,

Oh! We’re leaving him, leaving him,

Quiet where he died.

Ay! he is gone beyond it all

The praising and the blame,

And many a man may win renown

But none more fair a fame.

He showed the world New Zealand lads

Knew well the way to die,

And we’re leaving him, leaving him,

Quiet where he died.

James Edward Robinson is remembered on the Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) Memorial, Turkey, and locally on the Timaru Memorial Wall and the Claremont District War Memorial. At the beginning of July 1920 a dignified and impressive ceremony took place at Claremont, when district settlers gathered to honour those who gave their lives in the great war. A beautiful marble tablet, bearing the names of the local men who had made the supreme sacrifice, had been erected on the outer wall of the Claremont School and was unveiled. The National Anthem was sung. Archdeacon Jacob referred to the “heroism of those who had given their lives that we might live” and pointed out that while they sorrowed for their honoured dead “they could never forget the great debt they owed to them for having saved humanity from the German yoke.” The ceremony closed with the “Last Post” followed by afternoon tea. This very fitting monument to the dead bears the names six men, one of them Private James Robinson. At the celebration of the school’s diamond jubilee in 1928, there was recall of the neat engraving on stone, affixed to the outside southern wall of the school, of the names of several ex-pupils of the school who made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War. The inscription reads: — “For King and Country. In honoured memory of . . . . . , Privates James Robinson, . . . . , who gave their lives in the Great War, 1914-18.” Portraits of James Edward Robinson have been printed in the Auckland Weekly News, 1915; the “South Canterbury Caledonian Roll of Honour” published by the South Canterbury Caledonian Society, 1916; and in Onward – Portraits of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Volume 1.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [18 November 2013]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ ref. AABK 18805 W5550 0098988 [26 August 2014]; CWGC [21 November 2013]; Timaru Herald, 24 December 1894, 30 December 1896, 5 August 1909, 5 May 1910, 8 September 1910, 8 June 1911, 7 March 1912, 29 October 1912, 16 November 1912, 21 December 1912, 4 September 1913, 27 November 1913, 5 November 1914, 16 January 1915, 18 February 1915, 3 & 4 March 1915, 28 August 1915 (x 2), 30 August 1915, 07 August 1916, 30 September 1916, 14 March 1917, 20 April 1917, 5 July 1920, 24 December 1921, 17 July 1928, South Canterbury Times, 24 December 1894, Press, 28 & 31 August 1915, Lyttelton Times, 28 August 1915 (Papers Past) [18 November, 2013, 24 November 2013, 11 December 2013; 07 June 2014; 15 June 2015; 03 July 2015; 24, 25 & 26 May 2020]; School Admission Registers (South Canterbury Branch NZSG transcriptions) [November 2013]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [2013; 24 May 2020]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [2014]; Administration of Estate (Archives NZ/Family Search) [23 May 2020]; “Onward – Portraits of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force”, Volume 1 – P J Beattie and M J Pomeroy (held by South Canterbury Branch NZSG)

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