Captain Ralph George Griffiths Robson, R.E.

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Edward De Santis, MSCE, P.E., MinstRE
(December 2023)

Figure 1. Captain Ralph George Griffiths Robson, R.E.
(Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum)

“A gallant youngster,” “a gallant officer,” “absolutely fearless.” These were words uttered by many men who knew Captain Robson, and based on his actions during the Great War of 1914-1918, they accurately described the man. He was a polo player of some renown, but pig sticking, the dangerous chase of the wild boar on horseback with the spear, was his favorite sport. The pig-sticker had to have a good eye, a steady hand, a firm seat on horseback, a cool head and a courageous heart. Robson had all these traits and demonstrated them well during trench and bombing raids on German positions on the Western Front. Unfortunately, his bravery cut short his service at the front and ended his life at the age of 26.

2. FAMILY INFORMATION AND EARLY LIFE

Ralph George Griffiths Robson was the son of Samuel Robson, M.A. (1853-1946) of the Indian Educational Service and Principal of Wales College in Jammu, Kashmir.[1] His mother was Frances Ellen Robson, née Cumine (1853-1925). Ralph had a brother, H.W. Cumine-Robson, who served as a Captain in the 7^th Gurkha Rifles, as Adjutant of the Makrán Levy Corps.[2]

R.G.G. Robson was born in Chinsura,[3] Bengal, India on 13 August 1888. He was baptized, presumably in the Church of England, in Bankipore, Bengal[4] of 2 October 1888 and by 1905 he was in Folkestone where he attended Pretoria House School. In 1906 he entered Eton as a King’s Scholar and distinguished himself in the wall game where he acquired a reputation for absolute fearlessness.[5] The Eton wall game is a game that originated at and is still played at Eton College. It is played on a strip of ground 5 metres wide and 110 metres long ("The Furrow") next to a slightly curved brick wall ("The Wall") erected in 1717. It is one of two codes of football played at Eton, the other being the Eton field game.[6]

From Eton he entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich where, in 1908, he passed out 6^th and was prepared for military service.[7]

Gentleman Cadet Robson was commissioned a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Corps of Royal Engineers on 18 December 1908.[8] He then proceeded to the School of Military Engineering (S.M.E.) at Chatham, Kent where he would continue his education as an engineer officer.

His military training at Chatham included courses in field fortifications, construction, surveying, telegraphy, electric lighting, submarine mining, photography, chemistry, military law and tactics. The Field Fortifications course lasted for 4 months and 23 days. This course consisted of field and siege engineering, field defence, attack of fortresses, mining construction, demolition of railways and water supply. The Construction course was 6 months and covered building materials, engineering construction, hydraulics, construction of barracks, drainage, manufacture of iron and steel, mining, quarrying and machinery. Next came the Surveying course consisting of five months of technical training in geodesy, astronomy, meteorology, trigonometrical chain and road surveys and use of surveying instruments. One to two months of military topography followed, which included military surveying and sketching and elementary reconnaissance. In the School of Telegraphy, Electric Lighting and Submarine Mining he studied the theory of electricity, use of telegraph instruments, bracing and connecting instruments, making of batteries, firing mines and testing tubes. All of this was accomplished in two months with an additional one month devoted to electric lighting, signalling by flag, lamps and heliograph. The School of Chemistry was a short course of varying length that generally covered practical chemistry, especially relating to limes, concrete and other building materials. Finally, the School of Military Law and Tactics, also a course of varying length, consisted of special lectures in law and tactics as dictated by current military situations. This training at the School of Military Engineering lasted for just under 24 months. In December 1910, while he was at the S.M.E., Robson was promoted to Lieutenant.

Following his training at Chatham, Lieutenant Robson was posted to India in 1911 to serve in the Military Works Service at Rawal Pindi. He did not remain long in this assignment as he was posted to the Imperial Durbar Works at Delhi where he worked on the preparation for the Delhi Durbar that was to take place that year. The Delhi Durbar was an Indian imperial-style mass assembly organized by the British at Coronation Park, Delhi, to mark the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India. Also known as the Imperial Durbar, it was held three times, in 1877, 1903, and 1911, at the height of the British Empire. The 1911 Durbar was the only one that a sovereign, George V, attended. For his work dealing with the Durbar, Robson was awarded the Delhi Durbar 1911 Medal.[9]

After the Durbar Lieutenant Robson remained for some time to serve under the Imperial Delhi Committee and was employed on works connected to building the new capital of India. He worked under Major G.H. Griffith on the construction of the New Delhi Cantonment.

Following his work with the Imperial Delhi Committee, Lieutenant Robson was posted to the 20^th Company, Bombay Sappers and Miners. When the Indian Corps was deployed to France for service in the Great War, Robson was with this company under the command of Captain Charles Follett Birney, R.E.[10] Other officers in the company included Lieutenant Hugh William Robert Hamilton, R.E.[11] and Subadar Ganpat Mahadeo.[12]

On 17 November 1914 Robson was posted to the 3^rd Company, 1^st King George’s Own Bengal Sappers and Miners with the Meerut Division in the Indian Corps. When he joined the company it was involved with filling German saps in front of the Rue du Bois near Richebourg L’Avoué. The company also began producing “jam-tin” bombs under Robson’s supervision and he began giving demonstrations to infantry units on throwing bombs into German sap heads and trenches. He was considered to be an expert in the use of these bombs.

On 19 November 1914 Robson brought the first experimental trench mortars into action. The first mortars consisted of lengths of cast iron pipes and black powder to fire home-made shells a few hundred yards. They were not very reliable. The mortars were replaced by a design made by a Major Patterson of the Royal Field Artillery, which were made by Robson’s company. The mortar shells of Patterson’s design were made from cut-down 18-pounder shell cases filled with three and a half pounds of explosive packed around shrapnel of various forms (stones, horse-shoe nails, etc.). The first two prototype dischargers were made of wood and cast iron, respectively. The dischargers were later improved by using steel piping. The propellant for the shells consisted of black powder which was ignited by a shell fuse.[13]

Robson became the chief gunner for the mortars. He had only joined the 3^rd Company the day before the first test of this new mortar and he was selected to fire the first round based on the old Army principle of giving a risky job to the latest joined subaltern on the grounds that he was unlikely to recognize the danger and would not argue in any case even if he did. Robson successfully fired 20 rounds and the new mortar went into full production.[14]

Robson helped to organize the Indian Corps attacks at Festubert. A description of Robson’s participation in the Corps attack at Festubert on 23/24 November is described in depth in The Indian Corps on the Western Front by Doherty and Donovan (pp. 85-86):

“The attack by the 39^th Garhwalis began with a bombing operation by a handful of Afridis of the 57^th Wilde’s Rifles who escorted Captain D.H. Acworth. Bombs were in their infancy but Lieutenant R.G.G. Robson, Royal Engineers, a devotee of experimental weapons, who had the distinction of bringing the first rudimentary trench mortars into action on 19^th November, spent the 23^rd November helping to organize the counter-attacks: More important than all, he brought with him a supply of bombs. None of those on the spot had ever handled these weapons before, but . . . Robson soon taught them all that was necessary, and they threw a few bombs into the houses in front of the communication trench and dislodged some snipers who had been very objectionable.

After several daring reconnaissances and the throwing of more bombs, Robson disappeared at nightfall to bring up a further supply. He returned at 3 a.m. on the 24^th, explaining that a counter-attack was to be made by the 1/39^th Garhwalis from the 57^th Rifles trenches. He proposed to lead the assault with a small party of bombers of the 57^th, and, inviting Captain Acworth to accompany him on his perilous task, he said, half laughingly and half apologetically, ‘I wouldn’t ask you to come, but we want two anarchists on this show.’ Captain Acworth accepted with delight and the assault was carried out as planned by Robson.’ Turning to Acworth’s account: ‘He asked me to help him in the bomb throwing and to provide a small reliable escort. I selected six [sic] Afridis of the 57^th.’ . . . Ackworth continued: ‘we . . . advanced in single file down the communication trench. L/Nk Lalak, 57^th led, followed by five other Afridis, Lieutenant Robson, myself, another man of the 57^th carrying a spare sack of bombs, and then the 39^th [Garhwalis].

Robson and the attacking force then moved through the German trenches to clear them using bombs, killing many Germans and taking over 100 prisoners. Four of the Afridis with Robson and Ackworth received the Indian Order of Merit and four the Indian Distinguished Service Medal. Ackworth received the Military Cross, but Robson received only a mention in despatches. This is extremely odd as Robson had planned and led the attack, trained the men to use the bombs and had supplied the bombs.

The Garhwalis’ commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel E.R.R. Swiney had been ordered to recapture 300 yards of the lost trenches, but he had been reluctant to undertake a frontal assault over the flat, exposed ground in No Man’s Land. With the encouragement of Robson he agreed to move into the trenches in the manner planned by Robson. Robson’s plan of attack had adhered to the principle of “concentration of force.’ Rather than a frontal attack on a wide portion of the German trenches, his plan called for a narrow penetration of the German line near la Quinque Rue (see map below), then moving south in the trenches to meet up with two companies of the 107^th Pioneers and two companies of the 2^nd Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment, which had attacked the trenches frontally and then turned north.

It is difficult to explain why Robson was only given a mention in despatches for his part in the attack. One can only guess that the Military Cross was awarded to Captain Acworth because he was an infantry officer and his commanding officer believed that he was the leader of the attack, or perhaps Robson’s commanding officer was not aware of the very important part that his man had played in the attack. Whatever the reason, Robson was the most deserving of a medal for this action but he did not get one.

Figure 4. The Battle of Festubert, 23/24 November 1914.
(Image courtesy of Doherty & Donovan)

On 18 December 1914, Robson was promoted to the rank of Captain.[15] At that time he was working with the 2^nd Battalion, 39^th Garhwalis on the firing line. On 22 December the infantry noticed that the water level in their trench was rising rapidly. Their attempts to drain the trenches were of little use, so they called on their supporting engineers to assist with the problem. Captain Robson inspected the trenches and the ground in No Man’s Land – about 300 yards in width – and noticed that the Germans appeared to be pumping water out of their trenches and into the Garhwalis’ trenches. Robson thought that he could hear the German pump at work and that he knew where it was.[16] On 23 December he went forward to try to pinpoint the exact location of the pump when he was shot and killed. His death occurred at the junction of the Rue du Bois with the Estaires La Bassée Road near Neuve Chappell.[17] He was a leader in clearing enemy trenches with bombs and bayonet and had risked his life a dozen times doing this. For him to be killed trying to locate a pump in a German trench is rather ironic.

“The men of the Indian Corps were by now used to sudden death, but that of Robson was keenly felt. By his constant presence around the forward positions, his introduction of the home-made trench mortar and his bravery at Festubert he was well known to all the battalions. After little more than a month on the Western Front his cheerful presence would be felt no more. On Christmas Day an artillery officer came up to the Garhwali lines and directed fire onto the position of the German pump, which ceased operations.”[18]

Captain Ralph George Griffiths Robson initially was buried in grave No. 218 in the British portion of the Estaires Cemetery. His final resting place was in the Estaires Communal Cemetery, Section I, Row E, Grave 14. The inscription on his grave reads:

On 14 January 1915 Captain (then Lieutenant) Robson was mentioned in the despatch of Sir John French for gallant and distinguished service while with the 1^st Bombay Sappers and Miners.[19] There appears to be an error in this despatch. For his gallant service at Festubert on 23/24 November, Robson was serving with the 1^st King George’s Own Bengal Sappers and Miners, having already been transferred from the Bombay Sappers and Miners.

The probate of Robson’s Will took place in Peterborough on 15 May 1915. His effects were left to Henry Cumming Robson, college bursar, the attorney of Samuel Robson. The value of his effects amounted to £1270 and 11 shillings (approximately $154,550 US in 2023 currency).[20]

For his service in India prior to the Great War and for his service during the war, Captain Robson was awarded the Delhi Durbar 1911 Medal,[21] the 1914 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal with Mention in Despatches oak leaf.[22] The Great War medals were awarded to his next of kin on 1 January 1921. The clasp for the 1914 Star was awarded on 23 April 1921.[23]

[1] Hindustan Times: The foundation stone of the campus was laid on July 1904 by the then resident of Kashmir, Sir Francis Young Husband. It was affiliated to Punjab University, Lahore, in May 1908. Located in the heart of Jammu, the college is a legacy of the bygone era of undivided India and shows the foresight of the rulers of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Spread over 58 acres and surrounded by lush vegetation, the college dates back to 1904. Then Dogra ruler Maharaja Pratap Singh announced the setting up of the Prince of Wales College to commemorate the visit of the then Prince of Wales and future King George V, George Frederick Ernest Albert, to Jammu. The college started functioning with 26 students on April 20, 1907, at the then Ajaibghar (old civil secretariat) that was a princely property, with Professor R.N. Mukherjee officiating as the first principal. The college was shifted to the present campus on September 18, 1912, with Professor Samuel Robson as the principal.

[2] Baluchistan District Gazetteer: In 1904 the Makrán Levy Corps was organized under two British officers, with its headquarters at Panjgúr. It was paid for by the British government and the Assistant Political Agent for Makrán was also ex-officio Commandant of the Corps. He was assisted by an Adjutant. Its object was to ensure a better patrol on the British side of the Makrán border and the proper enforcement of the authority of the Khán as represented by the názim of Makrán. The Corps was composed mostly of Bráhuis with a small number of Baluch. The native officers represented practically all the leading sections of the Bráhuis tribes. The men were armed with Martini-Henry rifles and carbines.

[17] Bond of Sacrifice. There is a conflict regarding the circumstances of is death. SANDES indicates that he was killed trying to bring in the body of a German officer. Why he would be trying to do this is not explained nor is it validate in any other reference.