Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Stanley Robinson was the youngest son of George and Mary (née Cox) Robinson, of 12 Argyle Avenue, Miramar, Wellington. Generally known as Bon or Jim, he was born Stanley Redford Robinson on 29 February 1892 at Christchurch. His parents lived in Christchurch until sometime between 1911 and 1914. “Bon” started at the Christchurch South Town Belt School and later moved to Sydenham School, leaving there mid 1903 because of illness. In fact, he was crippled and suffered a great deal as a child. Having lost the use of his leg, he was forced to spend months in an invalid chair. Later the doctors thought that he had hip disease. During this time, however, he played football with the aid of a crutch and generally kept pace with his able-bodied playmates, by manœvring the invalid chair in a wonderful manner. In time he grew out of this handicap. In Christchurch Stanley was engaged with the Dunlop Company and the Para Rubber Stores, and had been in Timaru for about three years, employed by Mr T. Craigie, pastrycook, and for two years as a door attendant at the Theatre Royal, Timaru. It appears that he might have been one of the unsecured creditors of a bankrupt, in July 1914 at Timaru.

Stanley Robinson was one of the first to volunteer, enlisting at Timaru on 12 August 1914, aged 23 years 6 months, and arriving in camp at Addington with the South Canterbury infantry, under Captain D. Grant, on 17 August. The men “quickly settled down in the quarters prepared for them”. He belonged to ‘J’ Company, CDD Group 9, and had registered in Christchurch for compulsory military training. A salesman for Fullers Pictures, Timaru, Stanley gave his address as care of Mrs Gould, Bank Street, Timaru. Single and of Church of England affiliation, he named George Robinson, Maida Vale Road, Roseneath, Wellington, as his next-of-kin. His father George Robinson died in May 1916 and thereafter his mother, Mrs Mary Robinson, was his next-of-kin. He was 5 feet 5¾ inches tall, weighed 9 stone 4 pounds (130 pounds), and had a chest measurement of 30½-33 inches. He had a fair complexion, brown eyes and hair. His sight, hearing and colour vision were all good, as were his teeth, his limbs and chest well formed, and his heart and lungs normal. Free of diseases and slight defects, he was in good bodily and mental health. There was no mention of his earlier disability at the medical examination.

Having embarked with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion of the Main Body at Lyttelton on 16 October 1914, he disembarked at Alexandria on 4 December 1914 to commence duty in Egypt. Just five months later he was killed in action, on 8 May 1915, at the Dardanelles, Gallipoli, Turkey, aged 23 years. Perhaps the only diversion in between was five days confined to barracks for being absent from 11am parade without leave on 26 December 1914 at Zeitoun. His death was yet another among the very heavy losses recorded in lengthy casualty lists at that time, especially from the Canterbury Battalion, many of them being South Canterbury men. Private S. Robinson, 6/535, had intended to return to Timaru on discharge, which sadly never happened. During his time in Timaru he had made a big circle of friends and had been a keen hockey player.

Writing from Egypt just before leaving for the Dardanelles, Stan said he was “very fit”. Late in 1915 Mrs Cague of St Andrews received a letter from her son, Corporal W. Cague, who was recuperating in hospital after four and a half months on Gallipoli. Noting that many men were put out of action in the second landing, he mentions the fate of several South Canterbury mates. “The Canterbury Battalion took a ridge from the Turks just at daybreak and we drove the Turks off the ridge and started to entrench, when they opened on us with machine-gun and rifle and gave it to us hot, and until we dug down deep enough we lost a lot of men, but nothing in comparison to what the Turks lost both in men and ground the night before. . . . . . . The Turkish snipers are a great trouble to us, as sometimes you cannot locate them as they are so well concealed and use a silencer on their rifle. . . . . . You have already heard of Quinn's Post. Not long after the landing two battalions of ours were sent to garrison it. . . . . . That portion of the line where I was, was just about the hottest for the first two days. Ten of us from my platoon went to that part of the line, and only two—Stan Robinson and myself, returned.” But well before Cague’s letter reached New Zealand, Stan Robinson had fallen.

An older brother of Stan, Arthur Gordon Robinson (26/207), also served in World War I, leaving for the Front shortly after Stanley’s death, and was killed in action in 1916 at the Somme. (Not the Arthur Gordon Robinson recorded in this database.) Three other brothers were listed on the Reserves Rolls – George Tilbury Robinson, Percy Carr Robinson and Reginald Cecil Robinson, Reginald being called up in 1917. The New Brighton Borough Council extended sympathy to his brother George before their meeting on 21 June 1915. Stanley had spent a good part of his youth in this area. Just 13 days before being killed at the Dardanelles Stanley signed the briefest of wills – “In the event of my death I give all my belongings to next-of-kin.” Did he have a sense of foreboding? His mother applied for the War Service Gratuity. She was advised in 1919 that, under the terms of Stanley's will, it would be paid to his father, and it was presumed “that this course will meet with your approval”. His father had died in 1916 in Wellington. His medals (1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal), plaque and scroll were all sent in due course to his mother.

Private Stanley Robinson, Canterbury Infantry Battalion, is commemorated on the Twelve Tree Copse (New Zealand) Memorial at Helles, Turkey. This memorial includes the names of 179 New Zealanders killed at Gallipoli who have no known grave. Bon was remembered by his loving brothers in an In Memoriam notice inserted in the Press on 8 May 1916. He and his brother Arthur are remembered on their parents’ headstone in Karori Cemetery, Wellington. His name is inscribed on the Timaru War Memorial, the Timaru St Mary’s Anglican Church Memorial, and the Waltham-Opawa Park Memorial Gates (badly damaged in the 2011 earthquakes). The St Mary’s Church memorial to the fallen was dedicated by the Bishop of Christchurch on 1 December 1921. The service was conducted by the Bishop, the Archdeacon who had himself served, and the Vicar, and included in the large congregation were the Mayor and Councillors and numerous men who had served in the late war, as well as in the South African war. Following the hymn “God of Our Fathers”, prayer and a scripture reading, the memorial was solemnly unveiled. The hymn “O Valiant Hearts” was then sung, the Bishop spoke briefly, and the service closed with the singing of the National Anthem. Bishop Julius noted that, after the long years of anxiety, fear, hope, sorrow, and loss, and now that peace had been declared, they had assembled to unveil a memorial to those from the parish of St. Mary’s who had given their all—their lives. The memorial, his Lordship said, was a most worthy one in its simplicity, artistic beauty, and character, adding that the names it bore were the names of men who had given their all. The inscription reads: “To the glory of God, and in proud and grateful memory of those from this parish who gave their lives in the Great War, 1914-1918.” Then follow the names (73 in number) of those who made the great sacrifice, and the inscription at the bottom of the tablet: ‘‘Their name liveth for evermore.”

On 6 August 1922, just two days after the eight anniversary of the declaration of war, the Memorial Gates at Waltham-Opawa Park were unveiled in the presence of a very large gathering. “They fought and they suffered and they laid down their lives for us all,” said Sir R. Heaton Rhodes, Minister of Defence. “Some had won honours, but there were many more who equally deserved them. They had done their duty silently and well.” Sir Heaton unveiled the memorial gates, the hymns “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” and “Abide with Me” were sung, and the “Last Post” was sounded. The inscription on the gates was: — In grateful memory of those of this district who made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War, 1914-1918. There follows a goodly number of names, including A. G. Robinson and S. R. Robinson. Greater love hath no man than this.

Portraits of Stanley 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 [11 December 2013]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ ref. AABK 18805 W5550 0099084 [26 August 2014]; CWGC [11 December 2013]; Timaru Herald, 19 July 1914, 14 June 1915, 10 December 1915, 16 September 1920, 2 December 1921, 24 April 1928, Lyttelton Times, 18 & 21 August 1914, 15 June 1915, Sun, 5 September 1914, 14 & 22 June 1915, Press, 14 & 15 June 1915, 8 May 1916, 30 September 1916, 7 August 1922, Otago Daily Times, 14 June 1915, New Zealand Herald, 14 June 1915, Evening Post, 14 June 1915, Ashburton Guardian, 14 June 1915, Evening Star, 15 June 1915, Star, 19 June 1915, Poverty Bay Herald, 23 December 1916 (Papers Past) [07 & 19 November 2013, 11 & 16 December 2013; 19 March 2015; 15 & 16 June 2015; 29 January 2020; 08 June 2020]; “The Wendelborns from Lubeck Germany in NZ” Information about Mary Cox (familytreemaker.genealogy.com) [11 December 2013]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [December 2013]; School Admission Records (Canterbury Branch NZSG) [December 2013]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [16 June 2015] ; “Onward – Portraits of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force”, Volume 1 – P J Beattie and M J Pomeroy (held by South Canterbury Branch NZSG); Karori Cemetery, Wellington, headstone transcription (Wellington Branch NZSG) [08 June 2020]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

• Timaru Herald 10 Dec 1915 - St Andrews man's letter (pdf, 36.0 KB updated 01-Sep-2017)
• ROBINSON Stanley - newspaper clippings (pdf, 21.1 KB updated 18-Jun-2020)

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

TS