Charles Robinson enlisted as a Private into the 17th Battalion, the West Yorkshire Regiment, unofficially known as the 2^nd Leeds Pals, or the Leeds Bantams, on 21^st June 1915. He was given the service number 17/1602. Bantam battalions were recruited from men who were fit for military service in every aspect, expect for their height. The standard minimum height for an adult recruit soldier was 5’3” tall, and at the beginning of the war, this standard was rigidly applied, and men who were shorter, were rejected.

Before Christmas in 1914, the Regular Army units of the British Expeditionary Force had suffered enormous casualties in some of the most desperate fighting that was seen in the entire war. Such was the scale of the loss that it became necessary to reinforce the Regular Army with Territorial Force units, and in September 1914, the London Scottish Battalion (1/14th (County of London) Battalion (London Scottish)) was the first Territorial Force Battalion to see action on the Western Front, when on the last day of October, it went into action at Messines in Belgium. In the battalion’s first encounter with the enemy, it lost almost half of its men. It soon became clear to the army, that if it was to continue recruiting in the volumes that it needed to, to both replace casualties, and expand the army, some of the standards that the army held dear would have to be changed. One of the changes was that men who were previously rejected for being too short, could now be recruited, and they would be organised into ‘Bantam’ battalions of the New Army.

As was the case for many newly raised units in ‘Kitchener’s Army’, experienced officers, warrant officers, and non-commissioned officers were in short supply, and often, those who could be found, were long past retirement age. To remedy this shortage of leaders, suitable candidates within the units were promoted to fill vacant positions. With Charles Robinson being well educated, but not having continued into further education, he would not have been immediately identified as ‘officer material’, but his role as clerk to the man who ran the Leeds Division of the Great Northern Railway would have singled him out as a young man who was used to dealing with responsibility, was highly literate, and well-practised at communicating with colleagues at all levels of an organisation. This made him an attractive candidate to be promoted to non-commissioned rank, and within three days of his joining the army, he had been promoted directly to corporal and appointed as an unpaid lance sergeant. After what might be seen as a period of probation lasting a month, it seems he had impressed his chain of command, and he was promoted to acting sergeant (unpaid). Clearly, Acting Sergeant Robinson continued to be a valued assistant to his platoon commander, and on 27^th January 1916, he was confirmed in the rank of sergeant, and paid for it.

The battalion was tasked with attacking German positions near the hamlet of Elzenwalle, south of Ypres. Approximately half of the German line that formed the battalion’s objective was within Ridge Wood. Zero hour for the attack was set at 6:00 am, but the British barrage that was to support the West Yorkshiremen’s advance began five minutes earlier than the orders said it should. This does not appear to have been detrimental to the advance, but it would have given the Germans confirmation that an attack would happen in this area. The two attacking companies of the battalion reported that they had captured all their objectives within 45 minutes, and that for the most part, casualties had been light. Within Ridge Wood itself the casualties were slightly heavier but fighting in woods was known to be extremely hazardous, and often costly. Despite this, the battalion commander was pleased with the performance of his officers and soldiers and considered the action a resounding success. The men had reached their objectives while the German defenders were still unprepared. One machine gunner was captured while trying to bring his gun into action, but such was his hurry, that he had not had time to put his trousers and boots on. In addition to capturing the German positions, the men from the battalion also took three officers and more than 250 soldiers prisoner. They also captured nine machine guns and many important documents and maps.

Despite the morning being a successful one, it appears that there was some breakdown in communications and the reporting processes within the battalion. Charles Robinson has always been commemorated as killed in action on 15^th July 1918, but it appears that this is an error. The war diary for the battalion records a quiet day on 15^th July, with the men occupying the captured trenches but, crucially, it specifically states that the battalion suffered no casualties of any kind on that date. The more plausible explanation of what happened to him is that he was seriously wounded on 14^th July and was evacuated rearward along the chain of medical units. The receiving medical unit for the wounded from this action was 17^th Field Ambulance, which had an Advanced Dressing Station set up in the village of Brandhoek, and facilities to receive stretcher cases, four miles away at Nine Elms, east of Poperinghe.

Due to the nature of the fighting in the area at this time, only one man from the battalion who was killed on the day has a known grave, and he is buried at Ridge Wood Military Cemetery. The remainder are either buried as unknown casualties or were not recovered for burial and are now commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial. Those who were evacuated alive, but wounded, and died later, are mainly buried in Nine Elms British Cemetery, or Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, also near Poperinghe. Had Lt Robinson died on the battlefield, he would not have been evacuated back to the Field Ambulance. We can say, with some certainty, then, that he was alive when he was taken off the battlefield but succumbed to his wounds after arriving 17^th Field Ambulance. He is now buried in the cemetery at Nine Elms used by the medical units based there.

Following his demobilisation from the Army, Harry Robinson returned home to Scholes to live with his parents. He married Olive Sparling at St Mary’s Church in Whitkirk in August 1924. Olive had lived with her family at Saw Wood House in Scholes, but they had moved to a smaller property on Hollyshaw Lane in Whitkirk when her father retired. Olive’s brother, Herbert Sparling, had served as a Captain in the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. He was decorated with the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry, but at the end of the period for which he received his award, he was seriously wounded near Gheluvelt, east of Ypres, which resulted in the loss of a leg. After the war, Herbert Sparling had returned to his theology studies and had been ordained as an Anglican priest. He was the officiating clergyman at his sister’s wedding to Harry Robinson.

Harry Robinson initially returned to working as a commercial clerk, but later opened his own business selling seeds and plants in the Leeds Market buildings. Harry and Olive Robinson set up home on Farm road in Cross Gates after their marriage, where their near neighbours were William and Amy Bean. Amy had been the fiancée of Harry’s brother, Charles before he died. Harry and Olive later moved to Blenheim Square in Woodhouse, where Olive died in December 1932. She was buried at Harehills Cemetery.