Private Robert Bailie Robson

 

Robert Bailie Robson was born on 7 October 1894 at Doagh, County Antrim, the second of six children of National School teacher Robert Bailie Robson and his wife Alice (née Sloan). At the time of the 1911 Census he was staying as a visitor at the home of a William Henderson at Rhodaville, Rathmines & Rathgar, Dublin, and working as a boy clerk in the Irish Land Commission. In February 1915 he was appointed a second grade clerk in the Customs and Excise Department.

Only limited information has been discovered about Robson's military service. According to the Presbyterian Church in Ireland's Roll of Honour, he served as a trooper in the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons. On 10 June 1919, when he married Margaret Boyd in St Matthew's Church of Ireland Parish Church, Belfast, he was recorded as being a lieutenant in the Inniskilling Dragoons, of Castle Barracks Enniskillen. Castle Barracks was the base of the Inniskilling Dragoons Service Squadron. No official record has been found to date to confirm that he had been commissioned.

Robson and his wife later moved to England. At the time of the 1939 Register they and their three children were living at 4 Brock Mill Lane, Wigan, Robert employed as a surveyor of Customs and Excise. A newspaper notice in 1945 stated that he had been Commissioner of Valuation for Northern Ireland, and was now an assistant secretary in the Ministry of Commerce.

He died in the Christopher Nursing Home, Wigan, on 15 August 1960.

 

Two of Robson's brothers, William and James Arthur, also served in the war. William, a lieutenant in the Black Watch, was made a prisoner of war in April 1918. James Arthur served as a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps.

 

William Robson in the Irish Independent, 14 May 1918

 

This page last updated 2 September 2023.