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General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: c-side on Tuesday 08 November 11 01:39 GMT (UK)
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I am trying to find information on an army doctor but have little more than his name to go on.
From the back of a photograph: Dr. Col. Robinson
He was apparently in the army from 1914 until 1946 so was, I assume, a career soldier.
Bearing in mind that I am the world’s worst internet searcher is there any way to track him down?
Christine
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hi,,,do you have the photo? is he in civilian or army attire? if army..are there any distinguishing features,,like cap badges etc? ;)
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Is he wearing a uniform in the photo? If so someone may be able to ID his regiment etc.
Do you know what the "Col" is short for? Is it his name or is it an abbreviation for Colonel?
I think promotions were noted in the London Gazette if you have access. He might get a mention there. :-\
Also I don't suppose you know where/when he was born or even where he lived?
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I'm afraid I don't have the answers to your questions.
I am doing this for a friend and I have no idea whether she has the photo or if it belongs to someone else. Hopefully an email will provide the answer to that one.
As for Col. being short for Colonel or Colin - I wondered that too but we simply don't know.
They did used to Gazette army promotions - I have my Grandfather's from WW1 but I have tried and simply don't have enough detail to pin down the right man. I really am rubbish at it and do tend to get some strange responses when I search for things ::)
If I get more information on the photograph I will post it.
Thanks
Christine
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Try the AMS museum at Keogh Bks....
http://www.ams-museum.org.uk/museum/
They have extensive archives, and as you have a name and dates you should be ok...
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The National Archives documents online show seven Robinsons in the RAMC who held the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel or Colonel in WW1, but without initials, the museum is probably the best source. A long career in the RAMC would show up in successive Army Lists, which that museum might hold.
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The National Archives documents online show seven Robinsons in the RAMC who held the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel or Colonel in WW1, but without initials, the museum is probably the best source. A long career in the RAMC would show up in successive Army Lists, which that museum might hold.
I'm guessing he may well have ended up as a colonel, ere it be half or full in 1946...
And yes the museum holds a full set of Army Lists, as well as int on medical officers
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Thanks everyone
I've had a look at the AMS museum site and will pass this to my friend so that she can contact them direct.
Still waiting to hear whether she has the photograph.
Christine
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Sorry it's taken so long.
I'm still waiting for permission to publish the whole photograph but in the meantime here is the cap badge. Dated 1917 so I doubt that he would be a colonel at that time.
Any ideas?
Christine
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looks like a royal fusiliers cap badge ? ;)
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Yes i aggree Royal Fusiliers
Ady :)
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Medical Officers usually wore the cap badge of the regiment they were attached to. But retained RAMC collar badges. For example - http://www.mersey-gateway.org/server.php?show=conMediaFile.22808
Ken
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I've been looking at old photographs of royal fusiliers and the uniform certainly looks the same.
The badge on his jacket, however, looks to me to be the same as the one on his hat. Would this indicate that he wasn't in the medical corps? Is it possible that he trained as a doctor after WW1 while he was still in the army?
Christine
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My grandfather, Peter Donaldson, Private 25th Batallion Royal Fusiliers for comparison.
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Thanks Barry,
I now know that the photograph was taken in the Isle of Wight.
Does anyone know whether this location would have been significant to the Royal Fusiliers. If not I could think of it possibly being a family connection.
Christine
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Hi Christine
There was always a battalion of Regulars stationed on the island. The Royal Fusiliers were probably there as part of normal rotation.
Ken
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The only battalion of Royal Fusiliers that I can find to have been in the Isle of Wight during WW1 was 4th who were at Parkhurst on 4 Aug 1914 but landed at Havre on 13 Aug. [source: Brig. EA James, British Regiments 1914-1918.]
Of course the subject of the photo need not have been with his unit when visiting the studio.
A
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Is there any rank insignia on the photo more than likely on his lower sleeve area?
Ady
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Is there any rank insignia on the photo more than likely on his lower sleeve area?
Ady
The problem is without the full picture we are all stabbing and making assumptions...We would really need to see it all pse!! :D
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Hi,
Looking him up in the Medical Directory before and after the war may provide a little more information. It will show where he trained etc. I believe it is on line but access to it defies my skills! A new directory is published every year. He will have qualified in Civvy street.
I seem to remember visiting the Headquarters of the Royal Army Medical Corps in Aldershot - I suspect they are still there but I do not know what information they have actually got there. My husband was doing exactly what you are doing - researching an doctor (in his case attached to the Paras). He was extremely lucky in that he found, because of a chance conversation, that a chap who had been a scribe for the Unit was still alive in Tasmania and had written a book - there was even a picture in the book of my husband's uncles temporary grave "in the field".
One other thing springs to mind - the 3rd Volunteer Btn of Fusiliers was also at Parkhurst - certainly it was based there before WW2. These were in fact territorials as we know them today and they "joined up" for the war - i.e. Boer War, WWI and presumably WW2. It is possible your man was a Volunteer who joined up and decided to stay in the army and had a very successful career.
Good luck with your search.
Sue
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Thanks for that information Sue.
Permission now granted to publish the phot
Christine
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Now seems more likely that the officer in the photo was not RAMC but Royal Fusiliers.
If we forget the 'Dr' part for now and think only of the 'Col', there ware two medal index cards for officers named Robinson who have links with Royal Fusiliers and reached Lieut-Colonel [often abbreviated informally to 'Colonel'].
One is Henry Abrahall Robinson who won a DSO in 1916, the other Henry Arthur Robinson who was awarded a Portuguese Military Order of Avis 2nd Class and an MC in 1918, but he seems to have served mainly in the General List without regimental attachment.
Could either have qualified as a doctor after the war?
Just a thought...I have to leave this to others to sort out.
A
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This chap is but a Lt....One strand of braid on cuff...
I would also opine that he has been commissioned from the ranks...possibly a QM....he is rather old...And he has no previous campaign ribbons...Odd...
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I too thought he looked quite old yet the narative on the back says
'Dr Col Robinson
British Army
1914 - 1946'
If the date of 1917 is correct (also written on the back) then he would have been quite old when he left the army. Would this have been normal?
I had also assumed that he would not be a colonel at this stage - rather a colonel (if that's what col. stands for) when he retired.
Christine
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I never presume that what is written on the back is correct...people get mixed up....
This chap looks at least late 30s if not 40s...I would treat uncorroborated information with caution... ;)
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Just been through the BMJ obits from 1946 to date...No record of him there as RAMC...colonel or otherwise...
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Because of his probable age I suppose it is possible he served in WWI - perhaps he was a career soldier - and was recalled from pension for WW2 - that seemed to happen quite a bit.
If he was a doctor perhaps his doctorate was not in medicine ......... but then I suspect it wouldn't have been used?????
Sue
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One of the possibles - "Harry" Abrahall Robinson was born 2 November 1885, Frankton, Shropshire. On the 1901 Census he was at Bradfield College, Bradfield, Berkshire and was known to have played Cricket for them 1902-1904. Died June Qtr. 1975, Shropshire. Cricket Archive. In 1915 "Henry" Abrahall Robinson was in the Shropshire Light Infantry. In 1916 his citation for the DSO indicates he was an Infantry Officer, Royal Fusiliers, at that time and not a medical officer. London Gazette. In 1918 he is 33 years old.
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Here is the reverse of the photograph. If anything it's the 1917 that looks genuine to me with the additional information possibly anecdotal.
Christine
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Is that "Grandad" above the 1917 on the back of the photograph? I think we can eliminate Royal Fusiliers Temporary Major "Harry" Abrahall Robinson from the possibles. He was awarded a Bar to his DSO 1917/1918. London Gazette 18 March 1918. If the photograph in 1917 was his he should have been wearing his first DSO which was awarded in 1916.
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Just a thought....
Dr (Phd) Colin Robinson...?
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I've not looked at Dr. Col. Robinson for a few days but have now spent a bit of time looking through the London Gazette working backwards from 1946 for possible promotions/retirements.
The trouble is that no-one so far properly fits the bill and far too many Robinsons exist to make any assumptions. Plus, half of what they put in the Gazette is like a foreigh language to me!
I'll keep on looking from time to time but think that I'm going to have to try and approach this from a different angle.
Thanks for all your help
Christine
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Hi Christine :)
I have no expertise other than past searching history for my own army family, but maybe some of the following may help?
I went through The Medical Register for 1915 and looked for anyone with the surname of Robinson described as ‘army medical service’. There were quite a few, but as the date of their qualification is given some would be too old if the man in the photo of 1917 was 30-40.
There are some which are prob too old in terms of their year of qualification in their twenties?
Robinson, Robert Henry 1867 Irel; Robinson, Oliver Long 1870 MRCS Engl; Robinson, John 1858 Irel; Robinson, George Winsor C.B. 1876 MRCS London;
and two more of a nearer age for qualification as a doctor - Robinson, James Herbert 1899 MRCS Eng; and Robinson, Frederick England 1900 U Edin.
The one below had quite a lot of info
Robinson – Thomas Trevor Hull 1905 U Dubl. I then looked in the 1906 gazette which says RAMC; in 1917 it says Major, acting lieut col. Another internet trawl says Thomas Trevor Hull Robinson Dr (DSO RAMC) was born on 17 Nov 1880 in Rathmines,Dublin,Ireland. He died in May 1963 in Dublin,Ireland. He was buried in May 1963 in Dublin,Ireland.
There was also ROBINSON Francis Aidan 1908 U Durh. I googled him and found Major Francis Aidan Robinson, R.A.M.C.(ret.), of Dringhouses, left £22,690 in 1950
:)
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What a thorough job you've done, thank you.
I've made a note of them all so that if I find out anything else I can cross-check against these names.
Christine