Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

James William Robinson, known as William or Willie, was the elder surviving son of English-born Samuel Robinson and his Irish-born wife, Catherine née Moran, of Timaru. Born on 1 May 1882 at Timaru, he was educated at Timaru Main School, along with all his siblings, going out to work at the age of thirteen. Although James William seemed to miss out on the baptism stakes, he was a sponsor at the baptism of his nephew in 1915 at St Mary’s, Timaru.

William was twenty-three years old, employed as a cooper for the Canterbury Meat Company – an occupation he followed probably for his entire working life – and was living at home, when he enlisted on 4 October 1916. He had registered at the Timaru Defence Office for the 22nd Reinforcements in September. Single and of Church of England affiliation, he named his father as next-of-kin – Mr Samuel Robinson, 92 Evans Street, Timaru. He stood at 5 feet 10¾ inches, weighed 176 pounds, and had a chest measurement of 35-37½ inches. His complexion was fair, his eyes grey, and his hair dark brown. His sight, hearing and colour vision were all good, his limbs and chest well formed, and his heart and lungs normal. He was in good bodily and mental health, free of diseases, defects and fits, and was vaccinated.

South Canterbury’s quota for the Twenty-second Reinforcements – 41 short of the required 140 of all ranks - left Timaru for camp on 18 October 1916. The men paraded at the Drill Shed at 3 p.m. and were addressed by the mayor and Rev. Liddell before taking the second express north. The 2nd South Canterbury Band, the Senior Cadets and the Honorary Territorials all took part in the farewell. Corporal James William Robinson embarked with the Canterbury Infantry Regiment of the 22nd Reinforcements, per the “Navua” at Wellington on 15 February 1917, destined for Devonport, England, disembarking there on 23 April. It was April 1917 when he marched into Sling and reverted to the temporary rank of lance corporal before proceeding overseas. In June he was detailed to the Brigade Demonstration School, rejoining his unit from the Demonstration Platoon in August.

Casualty List No. 702, issued in late October 1917, named several South Canterbury men who had been wounded, among them Lance-corporal James W. Robinson of Timaru. His father received word that he had been wounded on 12th October. The newspaper Hospital Reports of 9-10 November mostly reported his as a severe case, although a few as not severe. Possibly the sheer volume of names created some confusion. He had been admitted to the No. 1 New Zealand Field Ambulance on 12 October, then to the No. 3 Australian Casualty Clearing Station in the Field and to the No. 2 Stationary Hospital at Abbeville, France, on 13 October, with a gunshot wounds to his left upper arm, on the inner side of the humerus near the elbow. A flesh wound resulted from a machine gun bullet penetrating his arm. He embarked at Rouen for the Military Hospital at Clapton, England, on 21 October. On 8 November he was transferred to the Convalescent Depot at Hornchurch, where he was reported to be progressing favourably. The wounds healed and there was no nerve damage, but some stiffness and soreness of the elbow because of “muscle involvement”. By November he was getting good movement in his elbow. At the end of November he left Hornchurch to report at Codford. On 10 April 1918 he was detailed to Lyndhurst for a course of instruction in Bombing, and on 27 April he qualified first class at an extended course. In June following he attended an Ante Gas course at Chisledon. In the intervening he was appointed lance corporal. And in August he was detailed to attend a Course of Instruction in Defensive Measures against Gas, and again he qualified first class. On 26 November 1918, Robinson was promoted to Corporal “to complete establishment”.

While he was in hospital in England, following the 12 October 1917 wounding, Corporal J. W. Robinson wrote to Mr Hind of Timaru, whose son Wattie had died of his wounds suffered on the same occasion. “It is with very great regret and deep sympathy that I write these few lines . . .” Willie had been with Wattie when he was gassed. “It was without doubt his keen devotion to duty and his thought for his mates that caused him to lose his life. A great number of gas shells were coming over, and Wattie was untiring in seeing that all his platoon were safe. . . . . . Wattie and I had exchanged addresses before going into the line, and I would have written to you before, but could not find the hospital he had been taken to, and being wounded myself shortly afterwards had no way of finding out. It came as a very great shock to me when I found he had died. We had been mates while in the Company together, and those of us that are left will miss him very much. He was always very popular with the boys in his platoon. . . . . . . Several of his old platoon mates are over here wounded, and have asked me to express to you their deepest sympathy, and to state that they consider your son's action was the means of saving a good many lives that night. In conclusion I can only say that Wattie was a man in the best sense of the word, and I hope these few lines from one of his mates will help a little in your sorrow.”

The Maunganui’s draft, which left Liverpool on 17 May 1919 and arrived at Port Chalmers on 23 June 1919, brought home 1128 soldiers and nurses. Among those for Timaru was J. W. Robinson. At Sling, in February 1919, the report read “No evidence of impairment of health or physical condition.” On his return, he was granted privilege leave and was discharged on 21 July 1919, on the termination of his term of engagement. It was after his death that his medals - British War Medal and Victory Medal – were sent to his father.

On his return, Willie again resided with his parents. He was employed at the Smithfield works when he died on 18 June 1922 at Timaru Hospital, having just turned forty. The funeral cortege was a long one, a large number of men from the works following the remains of their fellow worker to the cemetery. Corporal James William Robinson was buried in the Timaru Cemetery, his parents and a sister later buried with him. Samuel died in 1927 and Catherine in 1935. An inquest was held into his death. The operation was undertaken of necessity; he was already suffering from an extremely toxic condition. He was a single man and returned soldier, and had been ill for some weeks. Although every precaution was taken, he collapsed when the anaesthetic was being administered and could not be resuscitated. Without the operation, however, Robinson would have died of septic poisoning, and he had been fully aware of the risks and was willing to have the operation. [See Inquest - Timaru Herald, 20 June 1922.] (The New Zealand Times report of 20 June 1922 is attached to the personnel file.) The New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association and the Commissioner of Pensions were advised of his death just a few days after.

Three nephews of James William Robinson were to lose their lives in World War II – Frederick Sleigh Robert Thomson died of wounds on 28 March 1943 in Tunisia and John William Thomson was killed in action on 23 April 1943 in Tunisia, while James Samuel Cartwright was lost at sea in the D Day operations in the English Channel, on 13 June 1944. The Thomson brothers are remembered on plaques in the Timaru Cemetery, and J. S. Cartwright on his parents’ stone in the Pleasant Point Cemetery.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [03 February 2014]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ ref. AABK 18805 W5550 0098993) [17 April 2014]; Timaru Cemetery headstone images (Timaru District Council) [04 February 2014; 12 June 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [2014]; Timaru Herald, 25 September 1916, 18 October 1916, 29 & 30 October 1917, 18 January 1918, 16 June 1919, 11 July 1927, Otago Witness, 31 October 1917, New Zealand Times, 9 November 1917, 14 June 1919, Evening Post, 9 November 1917, 20 June 1922, Otago Daily Times, 9 & 10 November 1917, Evening Star, 10 November 1917, Press, 10 November 1917, 20 June 1922, Evening Post, 20 June 1922 (Papers Past) [04 February 2014; 09, 10 & 11 January 2016; 13 January 2019; 28 May 2020; 12 & 17 June 2020]; Timaru Herald, 19, 20, 21 & 22 June 1922 (Timaru District Library) [16 February 2014]; School Admission records (South Canterbury Branch) [2014]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [2014]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

• ROBINSON James William - newspaper clippings (pdf, 26.8 KB updated 30-Jun-2020)

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

TS