SOLDIERS OF THE SOUTH SIMILKAMEEN
Researchers:
Jennifer Douglass &
Andy English
Robert Robertson
Service No. 443961
Born: June 28, 1893, Boston, Mass., USA
Died: April 28, 1917, France
Son of William & Margaret Robertson, Hedley, BC
Private - Canadian Infantry
54th Battalion
Resting Place:
Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas De Calais, France
I received the parcel OK, many thanks. I hardly know how to thank the people of Hedley. Tell Mrs. Sproule I got the Christmas pudding. It was fine. We had a lovely trip on the train, but oh, the boat. Think I will walk back. … I was what they call in the army a mess orderly, better known in BC a has slinger. We have lots of rain and mud in this country.
I was up to London for five days and it sure is some place. Had a lovely time. Was through the Tower of London also St. Johns chapel…
Pte. R.W. Robertson
Pte. Robert W. “Bobby” Robertson (1893-1917)
Born in Boston, Mass. to William & Margaret Robertson, Bobby was the eldest of 5 children. His father, a teamster, moved his family west and north to Creston, BC by 1911 where he worked as a “lumberman”. Bobby was also working by this time - also as a “lumberman”.
By 1914 they are living in Hedley, BC and participating in various social activities (like the fund raiser Masquerade Ball for the Hedley Hospital).
Bobby Robertson was physically active as well. Boxing, baseball and probably the hockey team.
Bobby’s Uncle Lcp. William Henderson, his mother’s brother, was killed overseas in September 1916. Bobby would succumb to wounds received at Vimy just seven months later.
You can read more about Robert W. Robertson here…