Name
William Leefe Robinson (VC)
14 July 1895
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
31/12/1918
23
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
Royal Air Force
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
V C
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
HARROW WEALD (ALL SAINTS) CHURCHYARD EXTENSION
In South East part.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Memorial to Captain William Leefe Robinson VC, East Ridgeway, Cuffley, Memorial & Plaque, St Bees School, Cumberland, RAF Memorial, St Clement Dane’s Church, Aldwych, London, Mercara Anglian Church, Coorg, India
Pre War
William Leefe Robinson was born on 14 July 1895 at Tollideta, South Coorg, India, the youngest son of Horace Robinson and Elizabeth Leefe’s seven children. His father was a coffee planter on the Kaima Betta estate at South Coorg, India. On the 1901 Census he was living with his mother, siblings, pupils and servants at Tennyson House in Bournemouth, with his mother as schoolmistress. His father is not listed. He was educated at St Bees School, Cumberland and on 1911 Census he and his brother Harold were boarding with schoolmaster Frank Burnett and his wife and daughter at Richmond Crescent. He later became Head of Eaglesfield House in 1913, played in the first 15 rugby team and became a sergeant in the school’s Officer Training Corps
Wartime Service
In August 1914 he entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was gazetted into the Worcestershire Regiment in December. He joined 39 Squadron on home defence duties in February 1916 prior to a spell flying in France. Robinson had transferred from the Worcestershire Regiment to the RFC in early 1915. Starting as an Observer, he learnt to fly at the Central Flying School, Upavon, Wilts.
He was the first person to be awarded the Victoria Cross for action in the UK, being the first British pilot to shoot down a German airship over Britain on 2 September 1916. According to the London Gazette “He attacked an enemy airship under circumstances of great difficulty and danger and sent it crashing to the ground as a flaming wreck. He had been in the air for more than two hours and had previously attacked another airship during his flight.” Sixteen German airships had set out for England intending to unleash the biggest air raid of the war.
He eventually returned to France and served with 48 squadron, but was shot down on 5 April 1917 and taken prisoner of war. He made three escape attempts and was eventually repatriated but, being in poor physical condition from his treatment in captivity, he died from cardiac arrest brought on by influenza on 21 December 1918 (aged 23) at Lavender Cottage, Stanmore, Middx, only 7 days after his return.
Additional Information
A monument was erected to him in Cuffley, funded by public subscription following a campaign by the Daily Express and unveiled on 9 June 1921. The inscription on three sides reads” Erected by readers of The Daily Express to the memory of Captain William Leefe Robinson VC, Worcs Regt and RFC, who on September 3, 1916 above this spot, brought down SL 11, the first German airship destroyed on British soil. Probate was granted on 26 April 1919 to Katherine Leefe Heyking (wife of Baron Heyking) attorney of Horace Robinson, with effects of £2346 9s. His address was given as 36 Vineyard Hill, Wimbledon Park, Surrey.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Historic England, Worcestershire regiment.com
