Robert Colton Gagg
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Robert was born in 1891 at Retford and was the son of Colton Gagg who came from Misterton and was a lock keeper working for the Engineers department of the Great Central Railway Company and Esther Ann Gagg. Colton and Esther had a total of seven children, however only five of which survived until 1911. In the 1901 census the family are living at Canal Side , Retford Robert is 10 years of age. In December 1908 he was appointed to the Post office at Lincoln as a sorting clerk and telegraphist. By the 1911 census the family are living at Lockhouse, Retford Colton is still a lock keeper and he and Esther have three of their children living with them , Ernest Robert who is 26 years , Betsy Ann 17 years and Robert Colton 20 years working at the Post Office as a sorting clerk and telegraphist. Robert while still working for the Post Office moved to Lincoln where he married Ida Palethorpe in 1913
Robert enlisted at Lincoln at the outbreak of war on 5th August 1914 and served with the 1/1st battalion Lincolnshire Yeomanry, In November 1915 S.S. Mercian a troopship set sail bound for Salonica with D Squadron of the Lincolnshire Yeomanry. When, nine hours out of Gibraltar, whilst in the Mediterranean it was attacked on the surface by U-38 , The Mercian was an unarmed vessel and when attacked by the U boat the men of the Lincolnshire Yeomanry using their own weapons retaliated. During this exchange there were heavy casualties. The hour-long attack killed 23 men and wounded a further 78, seven of whom succumbed to their wounds and are buried in the Le Petit Lac Cemetery in Oran, the port into which the damaged Mercian reached after outpacing the u-boat. Robert was wounded and was treated at the 66th casualty clearing station in Egypt which is where he eventually died of his wounds on 18th November 1917 ,he s buried in Deir El Belah War Cemetery, Palestine grave reference B149. Lance Cpl Robert Cohen Gagg Retford Times 14th December 1917 The above is a photograph of Lance Cpl Robert Cohen Gagg (27) of a Yeomanry Regiment whose death was recorded in our last issue. He was the husband of Mrs Ida Gagg, Hill Crest, Beaumont Fee, Lincoln and youngest son of Mr and Mrs Colton Gagg, Lock House, Retford. Mr Gagg has been lock keeper for 33 years having come to Retford from Clayworth. He is a native of Misterton. Mrs Gagg, Lincoln, received official notification last week stating that her husband died from wounds in Egypt on November 18th. The news will occasion (says the “Lincolnshire Chronicle”) the keenest sense of loss throughout an extensive circle of friends and genuine regret will non the less be felt by those who were his colleagues at the General Post Office, Lincoln, for a number of years before the war. Having belonged to the Lincs Yeomanry for some time before the war, on the day of mobilisation, Aug 4th 1914, Cpl Gagg joined his regiment at Louth, In Sept 1915 he sailed to the eastern front on board the transport Victorian, passing through the Mediterranean an hour later than the ill-fated Mercian. Until the time of his death, Cpl Gagg was with the headquarters’ staff of the Intelligence Service of the Army.
His name is also commemorated on the Lincoln War memorial , St Benedicts Square, Lincoln
