William Robbins was born in Brackley, Northamptonshire in early 1882, the youngest child of Thomas Henry Robbins and Annie (Anna) Louisa Williams. Thomas and Anna had four children together who were, Benjamin, John, Eliza (Elizabeth) and William. William’s father Thomas and his two older brothers worked on the land as “Agricultural Labourers” and when William left school in 1895 it appears that he went straight in domestic service, although it is not known where he went to work. By 1901 however, William was working as a “Footman” at Quarry House, St. Leonard’s-on-Sea, Kent, the home of one William Fowler Copeland.

William married Edith May Stevens in the summer of 1906 in St Ippollitts, near Hitchin, Hertfordshire. It is not known how the couple met, but it appears that William had moved to the Hitchin area to work. Following the marriage the newlyweds settled in St Ippollitts and in September 1906 the first of their six children, Doris May was born. By the time the next child Vera was born in 1908, William and Edith were living in Amersham and Gladys their third child arrived two years later. By 1913 when William Joseph Thomas was born, the family were in Hemel Hempstead living at 5 Glenview Road, Hammerfield and it was here that their last two children came into the world. Ronald Stephen was born in 1915 and finally Edith Beryl arrived in 1918 shortly before her father William was called up for service.

Ronald served as a Lance Corporal in the Military Police in the Second World War and he was killed on active service on the 14th November 1942. Both father and son are commemorated on the Hemel Hempstead War Memorial in Boxmoor. By the time their last child was born, William had left domestic service and had been working for some time as a “Sewing Machine Mechanic”. His occupation led him to express a preference for service with the Royal Engineers when he was called up, although by the time of his enlistment new recruits were posted to the Regiments most in need of reinforcement.

William was called up under the Military Services Act on 24th March 1917 attesting at Watford and he was posted first to the 3/5 Bedfordshire Regiment for basic training. Just three months later he was posted to the 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, and on the 21st June 1917 he sailed for France disembarking at Boulogne the following day. He was then transferred to the 12th (Service) Battalion (Bermondsey) East Surrey Regiment on the 13th July 1917 and went to his new Battalion.

A note in the Battalion War Diaries highlights the often-bizarre nature of life at the front “The Divn. Commander gave a Garden party at Div. H.Q., BERTHEN to all Officers of the 41st Divn. The Battn beat the 18th Bn KRRC 3 goals – 2…” For the next two weeks Division rested, trained and played sports, all of which was a period of calm before the horrors of the Third Battle of Ypres. William saw his first serious action at the Battle of Pilckem Ridge on 31st July 1917 when the 12th East Surreys were in support as “carrying parties” to the assaulting troops. The casualties were mercifully low although four Officers and seven Other Ranks were lost.

However, the next action at the Battle of Menin Road in late September proved much more costly to the East Surreys when they suffered the loss of 287 Other Ranks and thirteen officers between the 20th and 23rd of the month. William came through unscathed. On 7th November the Division was notified that it was to be transferred to Italy. The move (by train) began five days later and by 18th November all units had concentrated north west of Mantua. The Division took over a sector of front line behind the River Piave, north west of Treviso, between 30th November and early on 2nd December. On 28th February 1918 the Division concentrated in Campo San Piero, preparatory to returning to France and by the 9th March it had completed concentration near Doullens and Mondicourt. Just two weeks after returning to France and on a day when the War Diary recorded a lot of aerial activity by the enemy but otherwise “fairly quiet”, William was killed.  He met his end in the trenches when hit by an enemy shell as the Battalion was defending ground during the German Spring Offensive.

Shortly after his death, his wife Edith received a letter of sympathy from his C.O. details of which were publish in the Hemel Gazette.

William was killed on Saturday, 23rd March 1918.

He is Remembered with Honour on the Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France, Bay 6.

He was 36 years old when he died.

William was eligible for the British War Medal or the Allied Victory Medal.