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Alfred Robinson (1868-1931)


Darlington man served in the Boer War then emigrated to Australia and served with Australian Imperial Force


Alfred Robinson was already 30 years old when he volunteered to join the Durham Light Infantry, fighting against the Boers in South Africa in 1900. Fourteen years later, he volunteered again, this time to fight for King and Country against the Germans in the Great War. His experience of war would eventually overhwhelm him and he died in a mental hospital at the age of 62.

Alfred was born in Morton Palms, Darlington in 1868. His family were prosperous: by the time Alfred arrived (the youngest of nine children) his father, William, was farming some 300 acres of land, and employing three men. A young girl, Hannah Atkinson, lived with the family to help Alfred’s mother, Mary (Hobson) with the children and the domestic chores.

On leaving school, Alfred trained as a cabinet maker and settled down to life in the parish of Middleton St. George. He was by now 5′ 8″ tall (173 cms) with a 36″ chest (91.4cms). He had a fair complexion, with blue eyes and light brown hair.

However, life changed for Alfred with the outbreak of the Second Boer War. On 24 January 1900, he enlisted as a private in the Second Special Service Corps, First Volunteer Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry (DLI). He was passed medically fit in Newcastle the following day and signed a short service attestation of one year. On 23 February 1901, he sailed for South Africa and for the next year, fought alongside the regular soldiers of the DLI in the Orange Free State and the Transvaal.

When his year with the DLI had expired, Alfred was discharged from service and paid a gratuity of £5. He then made the unusual move of transferring to Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts (KFS), a mounted unit, raised to move to hotspots and put down insurgencies quickly before fighting could become more widespread. Most men serving with the DLI were ex-miners or had worked in the shipyards and so would not have expected to serve in a mounted unit, but Alfred, with his background on the farm, was well-used to working with horses, so this was a natural move for him.
KFS had been raised in December 1900 in Cape Colony and Natal, and as soon as they could be mounted, they were sent out into the field. Alfred joined the First Battalion at Pietermaritzberg on 20 February 1901 and fought with them until he was discharged on 14 August 1901 at Pretoria. After being discharged from KFS Alfred also served for a time with the Corps of Cattle Rangers.

On leaving South Africa, Alfred was awarded the South Africa Medal, with three clasps on it showing he had fought in the campaigns of 1901, in the Orange Free State and in Natal.

Back in Darlington, Alfred and other returning volunteers, were each given an engraved rose bowl by the grateful citizens of the town. At this time, there were no civic war memorials in the UK and this was one way of showing respect to the men of the town who had risked their lives serving queen and country in a foreign land.

On 15 November 1902, Alfred married Ethel Tomlin in the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Darlington. The young couple then returned to South Africa, setttling in the Orange Free State where their two daughters and son were born.

In 1910 the family set out to start a new life in Australia, arriving in Brisbane, Queensland. Their journey started on the “Marathon” at Cape Town. When they reached Sydney they then transferred aboard the SS Osterley for the passage to Brisbane, arriving on 30 May 1910. They settled just outside Brisbane and Alfred returned to cabinet making to support his family.

When war broke out in 1914, despite now being 43 years old, Alfred again volunteered, this time to join in the infantry battalions being raised for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). However, at this time, the Australian Army required their fighting men to be between the ages of 19-38 and Alfred was unable to enlist. It was suggested he might join the Australian Light Horse Regiments fighting the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, as there was a need for older, experienced horsemen to join the Remount Units in order to train the horses needed for the cavalry regiments. But Alfred turned this offer down; he had no argument with the Turks, only with Germany.

The following year, following the disastrous campaign at Gallipoli, the AIF had to revise its age restrictions for new recruits and volunteers up to the age of 45 were now welcome. Despite Ethel’s protestations, Alfred again visited the recruiting office in Miles, Queensland, and duly enlisted in “A” Company, 42nd Battalion, AIF, on 16 August 1915.

With his previous military experience, Alfred was quickly made corporal and with his battalion, left Sydney for Southampton on 5 June 1916.
After training in England, the 42nd Battalion proceeded to France on 25 November 1916, entering the front line for the first time on 23 December. The men spent much of that terrible winter in the front line. When not in the trenches, they were either training or labouring behind the line.
The harsh conditions took their toll on Alfred’s health and on 25 March 1917, he was admitted to an Australian field hospital, suffering with myalgia (acute muscle pain). Within a month, however, he was back with the battalion, preparing for the forthcoming battle at Messines, in Flanders.

The 42nd Battalion was initially held in reserve, stationed between the two deep mines of Ultimo and Factory Farm, near Ploegstraat Wood. At 3.10 am on 7 June, the mines at Messines were all blown within 20 seconds, the sound of their blast considered the loudest man-made noise in history. The noise for Alfred’s battalion stationed between two mines must have been overwhelming. Nevertheless, they went over the top after the 9th and 10th brigades had reached their main objectives, and pushed forward to reach their objective of the Oosterverne Line that afternoon.
Alfred survived the battle but the pains in his muscles worsened and on 16 August, he was transferred back to England, to Wandsworth Hospital, suffering with myositis (inflammation of his muscles). Stays at hospitals in Doxford and Weymouth followed but Alfred’s war was over. Perhaps as his body healed, his mind had time to dwell on all the horrors he had seen and experienced, for, by 22 November 1917, Alfred had to be repatriated to Australia, now suffering with what the doctors called “acute mania”, profound shell-shock or post-traumatic stress disorder as we now know it.

Sadly, Alfred’s mind would never recover and he was admitted to Brisbane’s “Goodna Hospital for the Insane” as it was then called. Mental illness was not understood or talked about at the time and Ethel told her young son that his father had died in the war. Perhaps she thought that it would be easier for Sydney to tell everyone his father had died a hero than to admit Alfred was in an asylum and become the likely target of bullies’ tormenting.

Alfred remained in Goodna Hospital for the rest of his life. He died on 22 November 1931, and was buried in the grounds of the asylum . His body was later transferred to the local cemetery.

Civil Parish: Middleton St. George

Birth date: 13-Dec-1868

Death date: 22-Nov-1931

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: Alwent Mill, civil parish of Gainford, near Darlington (1871)
Long Roofed House, Girsby, Yorkshire, civil & ecclesiastical parish of Sockburn (1881)
Middleton One Row, Darlington, civil & ecclesiastical parish of Middleton St George (1891)
Maidendale, Dulacca, Queensland, Australia (1914)
Samford, Brisbane, Australia (1916)

Employment: Cabinet maker

Family: Father: William (1829-1901), farmer from Haughton-le-Skerne [family information suggests died 1900]
Mother: Mary (nee Hobson) (1829-1906), from Darlington [family information suggests born 1825]
Siblings : Robert John (b 1853), William Ainsley (1854-89),Richard Bowman (1856-1918), Joseph (b 1859), George (b 1861), Amy Annie (1862-85) Hobson (1865-1951) Arthur (b 1868)
Wife : Ethel Tomlin (1876-1956 – family information)
Children : Cecily Alice Irene (b 10 July 1903 in South Africa), Frances Anne (1905-1970, in South Africa), Charles Sydney (1907-1999, born in South Africa)

Military service:

Private 1st Volunteer Battalion, attached to DLI in South Africa (army number 88078)
Trooper 1st battalion Kitcheners Fighting Scouts (National Archives number WO127)
Corporal 42nd Battalion, Australian Imperial Force (SERN 209)

Medal(s): South Africa Medal (with clasps for Natal, Orange Free State & 1901)
British War Medal
Victory Medal

Gender: Male

Contributed by Kelloe Visitor, Trimdon Station | Boyd Robinson

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