Lives of the First World War

27th June 1916 - 13th October 1917

I have been drawn to Llewelyn Robson’s story because he was briefly engaged to my grandmother Evelyn Rider before his death in October 1917. He was born in Machynlleth in September 1891, and at some point his family emigrated to Australia, probably some time after 1896. He enlisted at the end of December 1915 in Brisbane. Two other young Brisbane men enlisted over the same couple of days – Horace G. Illidge (Tod) and Jim Falconer. The three remained friends through the war, and it seems likely that they were already friends, and perhaps made the decision together to enlist. Llew arrived in England in June 1916, most probably on HMAT Hororata, and we see him with his friend Jim in a photograph taken in Manchester. Evelyn lived near Manchester, and this would have been when they first met. This suggests that the Hororata brought them to Liverpool, but I have not been able to find certain evidence of that. They spent the summer training in camps in England, moving to Grantham, after which they were taken on strength into the 2nd/7th Machine Gun Corps of the Australian Imperial Force. On 3rd October they “marched in from England” to Etaples, his service record tells us. Embroidered post cards to Evelyn Christmas 2016 and August 2017 show him still in “France” (though I’m not sure how attuned they were to the distinction between France and Belgium…) The unit war diaries show the 7th Machine Gun Corps engaged at Ypres October 1916, Flers/Mametz November 1916, and in the Front Line early January 1917. By May 1917 they were supporting the attack on the Hindenburg Line, then at Senlis and Bapaume. The three friends came back to England on two weeks’ leave in September 2017, and were photographed together in Dover – “The Nuts in Blighty”. Other correspondence from my grandmother suggests that it was during this leave that she and Llew became engaged, or at least reached some “understanding” (as they used to put it in those days!) The three young men must have been plunged into action as soon as they returned to the Front - the 7th Machine Gun Company was in the thick of Passchaendale. The unit war diaries say that the 7th MCG was relieved on 10th October, following heavy fighting on 9th, when their barrage guns had kept up continual fire: “They suffered very heavily, 5 Guns being blown out of action, three men killed and eight wounded.” Llew is recorded as dying of wounds received to his left eye and right thigh in the 44th Central Casualty Station, 13th October 1917. His two friends had already returned wounded to England a few days earlier, but with happier outcomes. Llew is buried in Nine Elms British Cemetery, Poperinge, Flanders, Belgium. Tod and Jim continued to write to Evelyn through the rest of the war, and to visit her family in Reddish when they were in England.

Created by: , H160167