SOLDIER DETAILS:
Robertson,
James Ernest (UofT Honour
Roll)
Lieutenant 27th Battalion
March 9, 1916
Loker
Churchyard, Heuvelland, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Parents of Milton ON
Maple
Leaf Legacy Project
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Victoria Park Cenotaph
R. Laughton
Loker
Churchyard Cemetery
Commonwealth War Graves
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Lieutenant
Robertson is remembered on the Victoria Park Cenotaph in
Milton ON.
Lieutenant
Robertson
is buried in Loker (Locre) Churchyard Cemetery, south
east of Ypres Belgium.
I. E. 9.
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| Other Links:
Private Robertson is also remembered in the University of
Toronto Honour Roll:
(UofT Honour
Roll)
and at the Bloor Street Presbyterian Church: (Marika Pirie)
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SOLDIER SUMMARY:
| Lieutenant Robertson was one of the few Milton
Soldiers to have been born in the community. James had graduated
from the University of Toronto with degrees in Political Science
and Law. He was the son of Duncan and Helen Robertson of Milton
Lieutenant Robertson was practicing law with the Winnipeg Supply &
Fuel Company when he attested to the 90th Infantry Battalion
(Winnipeg Rifles) on July 20, 1915. He took that draft to
England, where the unit was broken up and he was transferred to
the 11th Battalion. He was subsequently taken on strength by the
27th Battalion (2nd Division, 6th Infantry Brigade) on December
21, 1915.
Lieutenant Robertson was killed instantly by a
bullet to the head, by a sniper, on March 9, 1916. That year was
the first winter for the Canadian's in the trenches of Flanders,
serving 6 day rotational tours on the front line. The Canadians
lost 546 killed and 1543 wounded in the first 3 months,
Robertson being one of the casualties.
The war diary of the 27th
Battalion March 8 & 9, 1916 is critical to Lieutenant
Robertson's demise as it reports the movement from the rest
billets to replace the 49th Battalion in Divisional Reserve at
Locre and then the 29th in the trenches. Because the
trenches were in a poor state of repair, the men had to see to
the repairs themselves (rather than one of the Reserve
Battalions). Lieutenant Robertson was directing parapet repairs
in the E3 cutoff trench when he was stuck by a bullet in the
head. He died instantly but unnecessarily. |
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The soldier pages contain information
that is available from a number of resources. The following hyperlinks
are active where the information is available:
The summary of the service is taken from
the soldier's service records, if they were available from Library and
Archives Canada. A complete copy of the service record is
available in electronic and paper format in the Alex
Cooke Memorial Archives at the Milton Historical Society.
Using that summary, combined with the key references, a summary of the
events leading up to the death of the soldier has been prepared.
The research information available is as noted on the Canadian
Expeditionary Force Study Group web site Matrix
Project as well as in the Library and Archives Canada On-Line
War Diaries.
A summary of all the soldiers is
contained on the Web Blog "Great
War Soldiers of Milton, Ontario CANADA". Please also
be sure to purchase your own copy of "Milton
Remembers World War I - The Men and Women We Never Knew" by
John Challinor II and Jim Dills, edited by Ken Lamb. |
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