Robert served in the King's Royal Rifle Corps 2nd Bat. Service No. 5/5074. He was my father's uncle, my grandmother's brother and landed in France in Nov 1914. He served with the Army for just a year and died on the first day of the Battle of Loos 25.09.1915. We had, until now, not known where he was buried. Several thousand servicemen died that day and were mostly buried where they fell, but we now know that Robert was commemorated at the Loos Memorial. He was older than my grandmother by just one year, they lived in Stepney, London and he joined the army at 17, following his older brother Phillip of 3 years, who was already in France. We commemorate him with a short poem: Our young lad of just seventeen was sent away to war, to fight for his country and make us proud, he couldn't have done any more. Our young lad of just eighteen, lay down in a crimson field and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts, for acting as our shield.

Debbie Renshaw