L/Cpl 49197 Robert William Dugdale

• Age: 34
• From: Bury
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 20th Btn
• D.O.W Friday 19th October 1917
• Commemorated at: Kemmel Chateau Mil Cem
  Panel Ref: M.13

Robert William Dugdale was born on 1st December 1882 in Bury, Lancashire, the son of Robert Dugdale and his wife Elizabeth Ann (nee Lee). His father was born in Oswaldtwistle, and his mother in Bury.  They married in Bury in 1879;  Robert seems to be their only child. He was baptised in St. Thomas, Bury on 17th January 1883, his parents' residence 78 Wash Lane, and his father's occupation horse keeper.

Sadly, his mother died in 1886 at the age of 41 when Robert was three years old.  His father remarried in 1888 to Elle Brooks. 

In 1891 Robert is 8, living with his father and stepmother at 93 Queen Street, Great Harwood.  His father is a farm labourer, Robert is 8.  They have a boarder, James Parker, also a farm labourer.  

By 1901 Robert, 18, is employed as a carter on Davenport Fold Farm, the farm of James and Mary Taylor in Harwood.  His father, widowed, is a cowman on the farm of Peter and Jane Haslam, Harwood. 

The 1911 census finds Robert, one of two boarders, lodging with Tom and Margaret Shaw and their two children, at 49 George Street, Great Harwood.  Robert is 28, single, employed as a coal man/carter. His father, 61, a farm labourer, is boarding with Ernest and Annie Haslam, at 7 Bristol Avenue, Bolton.  

Prior to the outbreak of war he had formerly been the manager of Great Harwood depot of the Wigan Coal and Iron Co. he was well known in Mytton and District

Robert married Sarah Helen Whitaker in St. Helen's, Waddington, in 1916.  There appear to be no children born to the marriage. 

He enlisted in August 1916 at Great Harwood and was formerly 27737, East Lancashire Regiment and was serving in the 20th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Lance Corporal No 49197 when he died of wounds on the 19th October, 1917 aged 34 during the Third Battle of Ypres.

He now lies in Kemmel Chateau Military Cemeter, Belgium. The Inscription on his headstone reads:

“IN THEE O LORD HAVE I PUT MY TRUST”

Kemmel Chateau was north-east of Kemmel village and the cemetery was established on the north side of the chateau grounds in December 1914. It continued to be used by divisions fighting on the southern sectors of the Belgian front until March 1918, when after fierce fighting involving both Commonwealth and French forces, the village and cemetery fell into German hands in late April. The cemetery was retaken later in the year, but in the interval it was badly shelled and the old chateau destroyed. There are now 1,135 Commonwealth burials of the First World War in the cemetery and 21 from the Second World War (which all date from the Allied withdrawal ahead of the German advance of May 1940). The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

He is also commemorated on the Great Harwood War Memorial.

His loved ones placed In Memoriam notices in the Clitheroe Advertiser and Times on 25th October 1918: 

"In loving memory  of my dear husband, Lance-Corporal Robert William Dugdale, K.L. Regt., killed at Kemmel, 19th October 1917.

     In robes made white thro' Jesus' blood,

     We soon shall meet beyond the flood,

     And hold sweet converse, free from pain,

     Nor ever fear to part again,

          Beyond the swelling flood.

     "And God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes."

- Ever remembered by his sorrowing Wife.  89, West View, Clitheroe."

"In loving memory of our dear brother-in-law, Lance-Corporal Robt. William Dugdale, King's Liverpool Regt., who fell in action in France, October 19th, 1917, aged 34 years.

     Renew our will from day to day,

     Blend it with Thine and take away

     All that now makes it hard to say

          Thy will be done.

- From Mary and Charlie, 4, St. Mary's Street, Clitheroe."      

His widow Sarah, living at Lomax Square, Gt. Harwood, near Blackburn, received his effects, including a War Gratuity of £5 and a pension of £1-2-8d a week. She later moved to 89 West View, Clitheroe, Lancs.  Sarah remarried in 1928; there appear to be no children. 

In 1939 Sarah, 54, is living at 1 Albemarle Street, Clitheroe.  She is a shop assistant in an iron monger's.  Also with her is her nephew, Thomas Whitaker.  Her husband is not in the household.  Sarah died in 1970 in Clitheroe, at the age of 85. 

Robert is commemorated on the Great Harwood War Memorial

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