The CMMM Archives received a request for information from the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 in Belgium. Their researchers have been able to identify the wartime burial locations of more than 1,400 of the 6,928 missing Canadians in Flanders. One of the burial sites located has been identified as belonging to Ernest Robinson, who homesteaded in the Cut Knife area. His name is listed on the Roll of Honour in our local history book Where the Cut Knife Waters Flow Volume I.
From the letter mailed to the CMMM from the Passchendaele Museum:
More than a century ago, a fateful letter was sent to Mrs. Mary Robinson (M), who lived or worked at Tatsfield, SK. It was the postal address of the next of kin of Ernest Robinson, a Canadian soldier who fell in Flanders during the First World War.
Ernest Robinson was born in Greater Manchester, Ashton-under-Lyne, England. Before he enlisted, he worked as a Homestead Farmer. Ernest was killed on 5/26/1915 and buried near Roeselare Kriegslazarett 123, Roeselare… Ernest Robinson is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres, Belgium…
Unfortunately we were unable to trace Tatsfield, SK to a modern address. This is the reason why we are contacting you, in the hope you can help us…
Perhaps, you’re familiar with the story of Ernest. Do you have unique letters, pictures or stories related to him, his family or the house they lived or worked in? Or if you would simply like to share your thoughts, we kindly invite you to post them on the website. You will be helping to build a platform for surviving relatives, interested individuals, researchers and museums.
Help us to remember the missing and preserve their stories for the future.
Joachim Jonckheere President, Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917
Private Ernest Robinson’s death has been recorded on the Commonwealth War Graves website. It tells us that his parents were Robert and Mary Armitage Robinson of Tatsfield, SK. Are there any recollections from the Cut Knife community of where the Robinson family may have moved? The Passchendaele Museum would like the family’s descendants to know his burial site has been determined. Private Ernest Robinson is one fallen soldier of more than 6,900 Canadian soldiers who are commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing.
Or, perhaps: “Do you have unique letters, pictures or stories related to him, his family or the house they lived or worked in? Or if you would simply like to share your thoughts, we kindly invite you to post them on the website.“
Information gathered from the community in the replies below and on the museum’s Facebook page will be compiled and forwarded. Thank you.
~ Debbie M.
Clayton McLain Memorial Museum 