A well known figure around Filey, Robert was the verger of St. John’s church and who lived with his Uncle, Denton Rickaby at 13, Hope Street as his father had drowned at sea before he was born, and his mother had died shortly after.  Mr. Rickaby was a cobbler, and kept a pair of Greek papushes (shoes) for many years after the war which had been sent to him by Robert when he was in Salonika shortly before his death.

Robert was conscripted into the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in 1916, and sent out to Salonika in the Mediterranean where he served until he was wounded.  After this he was put in a hospital in Malta for several weeks before being sent to France as a reinforcement for the regular army.  On arriving there, he was sent to the rest camp of his new unit, the 10^th Battalion, The Queens (Royal West Surrey) Regt.  An officer of the regiment describes the final moments of Roberts life to Mr. Rickaby as such:

“Whilst lying in camp, enemy aircraft attacked us and your nephew was killed instantly by the explosion of a bomb.  He was buried with full military honours, and rests with brother soldiers, who like himself, have given their lives for England.”

Thirty-seven soldiers were killed in this attack and are all buried in Bertenacre Military Cemetery.

A final note is that Robert was also the nephew of William Jenkinson Watkinson who died in 1915, and his Grandmother, Mary Watkinson had twelve family members serving in the forces throughout WWI.