Pte 57531 Robert Fairfull

Robert Fairfull was born in East Wemys (also written Wemyss), a village on the south coast of Fife, Scotland, on 12th March 1895. He was the son of Elizabeth Fairfull (mother’s name from the pension card).  The only Robert Fairfull of the right age in Wemys in 1901 (the only year Scotland censuses are available) is the son of Archibald Fairfull, born in Wemys in about 1871. Archibald Fairfull and Elizabeth Morgan married in Beath Scotland on 31 December 1891. Robert was their third child of eight.

 

In 1901 the family is living in East End, Wemys, with five children. His father, 30, is a coal miner, mother, Eliza, is 28, Robert is 6, he has older sisters Maggie 8 and Alison 7, and younger sisters Eliza 3 and Annie 10 months.  Family trees show three more children born after the census:  Janet, Christina, and Lewis.  

 

One of the largest collieries in Scotland was the Michael Colliery in Wemys.  According to a later newspaper article, Robert worked at the Michael Colliery before he enlisted.  Also according to the newspaper, he enlisted in the Black Watch, but this cannot be independently verified. 

 

He enlisted in Dundee, Fife and originally served as 776, Army Cyclist Corps. Based on the amount of the War Gratuity, Robert served 32 months before he was killed, enlisting in about June 1915. At some point he was transferred to the 19th Battalion King’s Liverpool Regiment, with the regimental number 57531.

 

At the end of May 1917 the battalion arrived in the Ypres Salient.  The War Diary for 7th June shows the battalion in Hooge Sub-Sector, Attack on the Messines Ridge by the Second Army, the 19th Bn and the 2nd Bedfordshires holding the line in the left flank of the attack.  

 

The Edinburgh Evening News on 11th July 1917 reported:

“Signaller Robert Fairfull (22), son of Mrs. Fairfull, Johnston’s Square, East Wemys, has been awarded the Military Medal for gallantry displayed in restoring heliographic communication under heavy fire.”

 

And in the Leven Advertiser & Wemys Gazette, on 12th July 1917:

“Signaller Robert Fairfull, son of Mrs. Fairfull, Johnstone’s Square, East Wemys, has won the Military Medal, and has been decorated on the field.  The Honour has been conferred on the young hero for conspicuous bravery on 7th June, in restoring telegraphic communication under heavy fire, and expediting the transmission of important information.  The Commanding Officer of the regiment, Lieut.-Colonel Rollo, in his recommendation, states that the most valuable work was done under difficult and dangerous circumstances, while the Brigadier General refers to the heroism displayed as a “fine example of devotion to duty”.  About two years ago the gallant lad of 19 enlisted in the Black Watch, and was latterly transferred to the King’s Liverpool Regiment.   Prior to joining up he worked in the Michael Pit, and his fellow workmen and friends will be delighted to learn of the honour that has been bestowed on him, while Mrs. Faithfull will doubtless be congratulated on the well-merited distinction which her brave son has so worthily won.”

 

In January 1918 the Pals battalions leave the Ypres Salient after a seven month tour of duty, and move south, taking up position near St. Quentin.  The German Spring Offensive (Operation Michael), the German push to end the war, begins on 21st March.  The Pals battalions, in Corps Reserve, receive orders at 5 a.m. to man battle stations.  The 19th Bn moves forward to prepare to counter attack the Germans at Roupy the next day.  On the 22nd the 19th suffers heavy casualties defending the position at Rouoy and is forced back, making another stand at Stanley Redoubt, but the few survivors eventually have to retire to Ham. 

During the engagement the battalion lost 11 Officers and about 210 Other Ranks.  The remnants of the Pals battalions are eventually forced to retreat in the face of the continuing German onslaught.  By the 28th March, after one week of retreat, the War Diary records losses of 23 Officers and 457 Other Ranks killed, wounded, captured, or missing.

 

Robert was declared Missing on 22nd March 1918 and his death later assumed, for official purposes, as having occurred on or since that date.  Ten days earlier he had celebrated his 23rd Birthday.

His body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial in France.

The POZIERES MEMORIAL relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918.

The cemetery and memorial were designed by W.H. Cowlishaw, with sculpture by Laurence A. Turner. The memorial was unveiled by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien on 4 August 1930. 

His mother, at 3, Johnstone’s Square, East Wemys, received his Army effects, War Gratuity of £15.  It is not clear from the pension card that a war pension was granted.