Thomas ROBINSON Private 2621, 6 th Durham Light Infantry & Private 26566, 12 th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. Died 30 th December 1917. Thomas William Robinson was born in Crook in 1897, the eldest child of John and Hannah Robinson. On the 5 th June 1908, John died as a result of an accident some months previously. Young Thomas was given a job as a pony driver as soon as he was able to leave school. The 1911 Census shows the family now living at Loves Beechburn with Thomas, aged 14, the only wage earner, being a pit pony driver. Thomas attested with the 6 th Durham Light Infantry on the 28 th December 1914, at the age of 17 years and 10 months. On the 23 rd November 1915 Thomas was training at Newcastle and was admitted to Bensham Hospital with scabies, a common complaint of the time. After reaching his 19 th birthday, Thomas was sent to France on the 20 th July 1916, and on the 5 th September he transferred to the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. Unfortunately for Thomas his service in France was blighted by illness and injury, and twice he was sent back to the UK to recover. Then in December 1917 he was on the troopship H.T. Aragon heading for service in Egypt with the 12 th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. The ship arrived in Alexandria on the 30 th December 1917, and it was permitted to enter the harbour, but later the authorities ordered it out again. Anchored outside the harbour without any protection, the ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine. 18 men of the LNL lost their lives and drowned that night, including Private Thomas Robinson. His body was not recovered, and he is remembered on the Chatby Memorial near Alexandria, as well as on the Howden-le-Wear War Memorial.

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Howden-le-Wear History Society