Second World War Medal Group – Private William Frederick Robinson, 4th Battalion, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) – Died as POW, Tobruk, 1942
William Frederick Robinson served during the Second World War as a Private (Service No. 6348802) in the 4th Battalion, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment). He was born in South West London and later resided in the same area prior to the outbreak of war.
He married Lena E. Stevens in Fulham, London in the spring of 1940, shortly before or during the early period of his wartime service. Lena had been born on 18th May 1919 and in the 1939 Register was recorded living at 55 Sandilands Road, Sands End, Fulham, where she worked as a factory hand.
The 4th Battalion, Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment was a Territorial Army unit forming part of the 132nd Infantry Brigade of the 44th (Home Counties) Division. After early war service in France with the British Expeditionary Force in 1940, the battalion returned to Britain and later deployed to the North African theatre in 1942, where it became involved in the hard-fought Western Desert campaign against Axis forces.
During this campaign Private Robinson was captured by Axis forces on 4th September 1942, during the fighting in the Western Desert. According to official casualty records he subsequently died of wounds as a Prisoner of War on 10th September 1942, just six days after his capture. He was 23 years old.
He is buried at Tobruk War Cemetery, Libya (Grave 2.C.22), a cemetery that contains many graves of soldiers who died during the fierce desert fighting around Tobruk and the wider Cyrenaica region. He is the only member of the 4th Battalion to be buried in this cemetery.
His sacrifice is recorded in the Army Roll of Honour and later casualty lists which confirm that he had initially been reported missing on 4th September 1942, before later confirmation that he had died while in enemy captivity.
His medal entitlement comprises:
- 1939–45 Star
- Africa Star
- War Medal 1939–1945
His medals were later issued to his widow and dispatched in the original card box addressed to:
MRS L. E. ROBINSON, 55 SANDELANDS RD, FULHAM, LONDON
Following the war Lena later remarried in Fulham in 1947 to William English, after which she became Lena English.
A poignant Second World War group to a Royal West Kent Regiment soldier captured during the North African campaign and who died shortly afterwards as a prisoner of war, now commemorated at Tobruk War Cemetery.
PLEASE NOTE: All research will be sent to the buyer via email. I am unable to provide printed copies, as I do not have access to a printer.
Visit my website for better prices on most of my stock.
AJMS Medals