Robert William Lawrence came from a very large family. His father John was born in Gainsborough in 1854, and married Emma Kilham in the early 1870s. The 1911 census shows that the couple had a huge total of 16 children together, of which four sadly died. It is difficult to tell exactly which children died, however it seems that Robert was the fourth child, and third son.
In 1881 John Lawrence was an agricultural labourer, the family were living in Rawcliffe, Goole. By 1891 John had moved his growing family to Denaby, and was living at 12 Cliff View and working as a Collier, along with eldest sons John and Arthur. Robert, at the age of 11 is at school.
The family moved around a lot, and in 1901 are living in Mirfield, West Yorkshire. Many children have flown the nest, but John and Emma are still living with five of their daughters and two of their sons; Robert has left home by this time although unfortunately it’s not been possible to find him on the 1901 census.
The Conisbrough and Denaby 100 Project
Robert Lawrence
By 1911, Robert is a family man. He has married Lillie Walsh, and the couple have had seven children, with sadly only four surviving; Fred, Jane, Morris and Violet. Robert is working as a Coal Miner, underground. The family are living at 15 William Street, Denaby. Meanwhile, his father John has been dead for around a year, and Emma is living with several of her children and two boarders.
Robert joined the British Army in 1914, and according to his medal card arrived overseas on 13th July 1915 as a Private in the 7th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment. The battalion was a ‘Pioneer’ battalion, and largely engaged in engineering works such as digging trenches, laying light railway and making improvements to existing structures. As Robert was a miner, this may explain why he alone out five serving brothers didn’t join the Royal Field Artillery.
The battalion war diaries show that they entrained onto two trains from Boulogne via Folkestone on the evening of 13th July 1915, and disembarked at 2am the following day. The following few days were spent marching from town to town, until arriving Rosen Hill Camp, Reninghelst (a small village south west of Ypres, close to Poperinghe) on the 25th, at around 8:30pm. There they worked on the 2nd line trenches on the Poperinghe Road. Although behind the lines, the battalion was not out of the range of danger, and men were killed almost every day. They stayed at Reninghelst, working on trenches until September, when they began rotating between being in trenches, and at camp in Reninghelst. In October 1915 the battalion began to move, and marched to Dickebusch, slightly closer to Ypres, and began work again on dugouts, light railways and improving communication trenches. The battalion was inspected by HM King George on 27th October 1915, near Reninghelst. The battalion continued working on similar projects throughout the remainder of the year and into 1916, and the diaries show that on Christmas Day 1915 the men had ‘English beer and plum puddings’.
“All casualties due to two crumps bursting in convent (?) at Voormezele, when men had collected for dinners (12:35pm).”
Robert was killed on 11th March 1916, when the battalion were still positioned at Reninghelst and had experienced heavy snow in the preceding week, slowing down the work they had been conducting on Battle Headquarters. He was not alone in losing his life that day, and fortunately the diaries are incredibly detailed, listing out the names of all soldiers killed; 9205 Sgt P Crowther, 11646 Pte G Wilby, 18542 Pte W Nicholls, 16596 Pte CT Raynes, 16617 Pte J Crabbe and 11781 Pte J Hutchinson lost their lives along with Robert on that day, with 10577 Pte J Cooper dying the following day, and another 4 ‘other ranks’ being wounded.
The diaries report;
A ‘crump’ was a trench mortar.
Following Robert’s death, Lillie received three letters lamenting his loss, which were published in the Mexborough Times on Saturday April 1st, 1916. The first came from 2nd Lieutenant John Clark, and read;
“It is with sincere regret that I inform you of the death of your husband, R Lawrence. My heart goes out to you in this sad bereavement, and also to your children. They have had a pattern set them by their father, which they will do well to follow. I have had him with me constantly during the last five months through strife and otherwise, and I realise what an excellent fellow he was, always ready and willing to do anything, no matter what it was, pleasant or unpleasant. I need not impress upon you the fact that I have lost the true soldier, of whom I was proud. Perhaps it will be a consolation to you to know that his death was instantaneous; he did not suffer the slightest pain... the chaplain buried him in a little country graveyard here, and a wooden cross has been erected at the head of the grave. The name of the place I am unable to divulge in a letter...”
‘The name of the place’ was Voormezele, and Robert is buried in Voormezele Enclosures 1 and 2.
“Allow me to offer you my deepest sympathy on the loss of your husband, Private R Lawrence... we have lost a good soldier and a brave man. Last December at a great personal risk, he worked for two hours with two other men, and thereby rescued a comrade who was buried under a heavy fall of masonry.”
“B Coy shelled out of barracks. Some men accommodated in Ramparts and remainder returned to barracks for night. Two men wounded by falling masonry.”
From the war diaries, this appears to have been an incident which happened on the 28th December 1915, and was reported at the time as follows;
Finally, Lillie received a letter from two of Robert’s comrades JF Froggatt and GW Immision, who were in the same platoon as him. Their letter reads;
“We were close companions of your husband, being in the same platoon. His loss is felt by officers and men alike, for he was a good and brave soldier. It was on the 11th when Bob with several others, was hit by a shell, death being instantaneous. He was always talking about you and the children. Your husband was recommended for gallantry on a previous occasion when we were being heavily shelled. He was one of the three who rescued a man under heavy fire. Accept the sincere sympathy of the platoon...”
Robert was awarded the Victory, British and 1915 Star Medals, which Lillie claimed in November 1920.
As mentioned, Robert was not the only Lawrence son to go to war: eldest brothers John Alfred (Fred), and Arthur, and younger brothers Samuel and Ben were also serving in the War. A newspaper article from the Mexborough Times in April 1915 reads;
“Eldest son, Gunner Fred Lawrence is serving in the Royal Field Artillery. He has been in the Army nine years, several of which he spent in India. Driver Arthur Lawrence, Royal Field Artillery, has also been a the front since the commencement of the war. He went through the South African campaign, and he posseses two medals and a badge. Robert enlisted in Lord Kitchener’s Army, the York and Lancaster Regiment and he is sstill in England. Sam, who is also serving in the RFA was eight years in India, and he came home for furlough at Christmas. A little later he was sent to France. The youngest son Benjamin was 18 years of age, enlisted in August in the RFA for a period of six years. On March 24, he sent a letter to his mother and sister, stating that the Regiment was about to embark for the Dardanelles, and since then they have not heard from him.”
Although it is difficult to be sure for certain, no evidence can be found that any of Robert’s brothers were killed. The Commonwealth War Graves records contain no matching records, and the newspaper reports mention only Robert’s death.
Clearly a popular man, Robert’s death was also felt by Captain A W Turner, who had commanded Robert’s company and wrote to Lillie;
Robert's medal index card (click for larger image)
The Lawrence Brothers (click for larger images and descriptions)
Voormezele Enclosures 1 and 2 (click for larger image)