Robert Williams
- Family History
- Military History
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Robert Williams was born in 1894 in Chirk, Denbighshire, Wales. He was the eldest child of Alfred and Agnes Williams who later completed a family of 3, with Sarah 1895 and James 1898, all born in Chirk. living at 49 Haltons Buildings. The father and bread winner of the family, Alfred, was employed working in the mines as a coal miner hewer. Within 3 years of James being born, the family moved to Worksop residing at 151 Kilton Road, where father was working in the local pit and when he became of working age, Robert became a grocer’s warehouse man before working at Manton Pit.
Pte Robert Williams Worksop Guardian 23 June 1916 News has been received of the death, killed in action in France of Pte Robert Williams, eldest son of Mr and Mrs Alfred Williams, of 151 Kilton Rd, Worksop, the announcement of which was made Tuesday by the War office. Pte Williams, who was born in Denbighshire, Wales, came to Worksop some ten or eleven years ago with his father. Up to his enlistment in Feb 1915, Pte Williams worked at Manton. He joined the Sherwood Foresters but later transferred to the 2nd Northamptonshire and was attached to the R.F. In July he went to France, and had been about a year in the fighting zone. No details as to where he was killed or the nature of his injuries are known, but a coincidence is that a letter has been received, from him written on the very day he fell. Pte Williams was a **** young soldier, and there will be sympathy with the bereaved family in their loss. Pte Robert Williams Worksop Guardian 14 July 1916 Mr and Mrs Alfred Williams, 151 Kilton Road, Worksop, whose eldest son, Pte Robert Williams was recently killed in action as previously reported in the “Worksop Guardian,” have received a letter from the deceased’s commanding officer, second Lieut. Noel Barber, R.E. in which he plays a splendid tribute to Williams’ memory. Writing under the date July 8th, he says:- I deeply sympathise with you on your great loss. Your son died in the way, I am sure, that he, and all other brave men, would wish to. He was killed fighting for his King and country, and for civilisation and freedom. His great sacrifice, like that of innumerable other heroes who have fallen on the field of battle, will be a lasting monument to the England of the future, and generations to come will learn to bless the memory of all these brave men who have helped to save their country and their homes. Your son knew no suffering, and his death was instantaneous, caused by an explosion of an enemy’s mine close to where he was working. The force of the concussion killed him immediately, and mercifully he could have felt no pain. His work, during the whole of the time that I had known him, was of the very best, and in every way, he acted as a soldier and a gentleman. I send you my sincerest condolences in this time of your great sorrow, and I am sure your son would not wish you to grieve, as he must be happy now in God’s keeping … “
CWG additional information:- Son of Alfred and Agnes Williams, of 151, Kilton Rd., Worksop, Notts. Commemorated on Maroeuil British Cemetery, France. Formerly 22878, Notts & Derbys Regt. Research by Colin Dannatt
