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John Pitcairn Robley was born on 3rd December 1895 in Glasgow to William Pitcairn Robley, a dairy proprietor, and Edith Margaret (née Nunn). He was the second of their three children, his siblings being Harrington (1891) and Edith Gertrude (1903). He was educated at Larchfield School, Helensburgh, and then at Loretto School, Edinburgh. After leaving school, he worked for William Jacks & Co., a Glasgow firm of iron merchants.
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Following the outbreak of war, John was granted an RNVR commission as a Sub-Lieutenant on 18th October 1914. On 3rd January 1915, he was posted to the Nelson Battalion.
At Gallipoli, John was killed on the morning of 5th June 1915. With his company entrenching under heavy fire, he was shot by a Turkish sniper and died instantly. Further detail was provided by Petty Officer McCaw:
I learned the manner of his death. With his usual infectious enthusiasm, he had been kneeling up in the half-dug trench sniping in return at the red flash of Turkish rifles.
Reinforcements who were urgently needed in the firing-line, came stooping cautiously, up the narrow trench. In a moment of forgetfulness he stood up to let them pass. Then the sniper fired again, and he dropped with a bullet through his head.
His end was sudden and painless. |
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John was initially buried with two other Nelson officers at Backhouse Post. After the war, his body was exhumed and reinterred at Skew Bridge Cemetery.
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