Kilbride Parish Church War Memorial

Samuel Robinson

Date of Birth – 3rd June 1879

Place of Birth – Jockeysquarter, Glenwherry, Ballymena

Parents - William Robinson and Maria Robinson (née Esler)

Siblings - James, Agnes, (Samuel), William, Elizabeth, John, Andrew, Maria, David & Ellen

Place of enlistment – Newtownards, Co. Down (date unknown)

Address at time of enlistment – Burnside, Doagh, Ballyclare

Next of Kin – Matilda Robinson (wife)

Address of next-of-kin – Burnside, Doagh, Ballyclare

Trade or Calling – labourer

Regimental No. 18/1036

Unit – 12th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles

Rank – Lance corporal

Died – 7th June 1917 (died of wounds)

Place of Death – near Bailleul, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

Age at Death – 32

Buried – Bailleul Communal Cemetery, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France, Plot Plot III. C. 313. Note that another soldier named on the Kilbride War Memorial, Thomas Whyte, died of wounds on the same day as Samuel and is buried nearby in the same cemetery, grave reference III. C. 278. Thomas was in the same regiment. Private John Taylor, 7th Battalion, Canadian Infantry is also buried in this cemetery. He was the son of Frank Taylor, a church warden in Kilbride Parish Church.

Commemorations – Ballyclare War Memorial, 2nd Ballyeaston Presbyterian Church and Kilbride Parish Church

Marital status – Married

Wife’s Name – Matilda (Tilly) McVicker. 

Married on 10th April 1908 in the Independent Church, Carrickfergus. Matilda was born in Termonbacca, Londonderry to parents Thomas and Margaret McVicker. Her mother died between 1880 and 1887 and her father remarried in 1887.

At the time of their marriage Samuel Robinson was living in Fairymount in Carrickfergus and Tilly was living in Cogry, Doagh

Children - No Issue

Notes

William Robinson, Samuel’s father, lived at Carnlea in the civil parish of Rashee and he married Maria Esler from Jockeysquarter, Glenwherry on 18th July 1874 in 2nd Ballyeaston Presbyterian Church. Including Samuel they had ten children. They lived at Rashee for a number of years but later moved to Carrickfergus.

Matilda Robinson died in the Massereene Hospital, Antrim on 18th June 1949, aged 69, and was buried in Kilbride cemetery, Plot D16. Her brother Robert McVicker is buried in the adjacent grave, Plot D17.

Samuel’s brother Andrew also served in the 12th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles. Andrew suffered a gun-shot wound during his army service and the bullet lodged in his chest near his heart. It was deemed to be too dangerous to try to remove it and so it remained there for the rest of his life. He was transferred from the Royal Irish Rifles to the Labour Corps but later discharged before the end of the war.

Records Available

The National Archives

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Medal card available

National Archives of Ireland

Soldiers’ Wills

www.soldierswill.nationalarchives.ie

 Census Records

1901 Census – Rashee, Rashee, Ballyclare

Samuel Robinson, Son, Presbyterian, Aged 21, Occupation - oiler of machinery

1911 Census – Rashee, Rashee, Ballyclare

Samuel Robinson, Head, Presbyterian, Aged 32, Occupation - labourer.

 Newspaper Notice

Northern Whig -Published Thursday, 12 July 1917

The Casualty Lists - Royal Irish Rifles. Died of Wounds.—English, 9465, G. (Belfast); Ferguson, 1581, J. F. (Belfast, Enlt.); Fitzpatrick, 9436, J. (Belfast); Mitchell, 4184, T. (Lurgan); Robinson, 1036. L.-Cpl. S. (Ballyclare); Whyte, 19318, T. (Ballyclare).