Walmsley, Robert

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Robert Walmsley

L11078, Gunner, 149th Brigade Royal Field Artillery
Killed in action, 18 July 1917, aged 31
Buried at Reninghelst New Military Cemetery, Belgium

CWGC registered (no family details)

Robert Walmsley, born in Chorley, Lancashire in 1886, was the son of Thomas Walmsley, a labourer, and his wife Fanny Walmsley (née Whittle). Thomas Walmsley died in 1890 and the Census for England the following year records his widow and five children living in Chorley: Robert (4) being described as a scholar; his siblings were William (12), Helen (10), Margaret (8), Alice (6) and Thomas (3). Fanny Walmsley died in 1892 and the Census for 1901 records Robert as the adopted son of Ellen Johnson and employed as a coal miner (above ground). In 1909, Robert married Kate Hobson (b 1889, Llandudno), the marriage being registered at Chorley. The Census for 1911 records the couple living with Robert’s sisters, Margaret and Alice, at Chorley; Robert was described as a collier/coal hewer. Daughters Ann and Grace were born in 1912 and 1914 respectively.

Robert Walmsley enlisted into the Royal Field Artillery at Preston in March 1915, his regimental number being L11078. Little is known of his subsequent service except that he was killed in action on 18 July 1917 aged 31. He was then in “D” Battery, 149th Brigade, RFA which was in the Ypres Salient. He was buried with ten others of his battery at Reninghelst New Military Cemetery.

It would appear that Kate had returned to Llandudno for her son, Harold Walmsley was born there in 1917. In 1919, she married Ellis Jones and both were resident in Llandudno in 1939.

Known memorials:

  • Llandudno Roll of Honour
  • Llandudno War Memorial
  • Memorial Chapel, Holy Trinity Church, Llandudno

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