Captain William Walton Robinson, RE (d. 1887)
/Captain William Walton Robinson, RE is commemorated by a stained glass window and a memorial on the north wall of the North Quire Transept.
Inscription reads:
To the Glory of God and in ever loving memory of
Captain William Walton Robinson, Royal Engineers
son of the late Colonel W.Robinson R.E.
Who died at Aden 7 June 1887 aged 37 years
The Upper Centre Window has
Been place by his widow.
Captain William Walton Robinson, RE was the son of Col. W. Robinson, chief R.E.officer of the N.W. Boundary Commission under the Arbitration Treaty and also between the British Provinces of North America and the USA and of the survey of the Trunk Railway of Canada. He passed out of Woolwich in 1869, 2nd in his batch and joined the Royal Engineers at Chatham in September at the age of 20. He studied at the S.M.E. and had charge of the building of the R.E. Institute.
In 1872 he volunteered for service in India and joined the Bombay Sappers and Miners at Kirkee. He was posted to the Department of Public Works in December 1873 and went to Kotapore to carry out schemes to supply the Native Sates with water.
In October 1877 he was given charge of work more to his liking - the construction of the Amba Ghat Road, connecting Rutnagheri on the coast with the Native State of Kotapore in South Mahratta country.
He published two papers which were to be delivered as lectures at the School of Military Engineering in connection with this work. In the same year he was employed on work in connection with famine in the South Mahratta country and received the thanks of the government for his services.
In 1879 he went to Quetta to assist in surveying the line from Quetta to Kandahar but in July 1880 he was transferred from Public Works to the Military Branch for service in Afghanistan and advanced to Kandahar with the Kandahar Field Force. He then returned to carry on the survey of the proposed railway but succumbed to dysentery and was sent to Bombay. In February 1881 he took charge of the Bombay Harbour Defences and remained there until April 1882, when he then reverted to home duties.
Back in England he joined the RE Depot at Chatham in July 1882 and was employed in the construction of the Borstal Forts, being in June 1885 given the whole charge of the line of forts.
He was eventually selected to return to India and sailed in January 1887, with prospects of promotion in the Department of Public Works. On his arrival in Bombay he was ordered to Aden to take charge of the Division there during the absence on leave of the Commanding Officer.
On 3rd June he was struck down with dysentery and although he seemed to be making a recovery and did in fact write to his wife, he later became unconscious and died at 7 a.m; on 7th June. He was buried the same evening with military honours.
He is particularly remembered for the fact that he started the registry of soldiers of good character from which recommendations could be made to employers when discharged soldiers sought employment in civilian life. He was married in Bombay on 10th October 1874, and there was one child.
From the notebooks ‘The Naval and Military Memorials of Rochester Cathedral’ (1979)
by Roy Trett, OBE, TD,
Rochester Cathedral Chapter Library
Seventy-two brilliant stained glass windows were installed by prominent glaziers Clayton & Bell during the 1870s and 1880s.
Rochester Cathedral features an exceptionally large collection of Colonial-era military memorials and artefacts. This series has begun to highlight the stories behind these collections and their place in our global heritage.
