George Henry Robinson was born in 1886 in Hatton and baptised at Daresbury on 19th September of that year. He was the son of James Robinson (born Cuddington) and Martha (nee Moseley) who was born in Moulton.
In 1891 the family were living on Sankey Lane in Hatton, at Little Queastybirch. The head of the household was a farmer.
The census of 1901 showed 14-year old George and his parents and his younger brother Thomas (9), living at the same address. He was a farmer’s son, living and working at home.
Ten years later, both boys are working on the same family farm. In the 27 years that they had been married, the parents had had four children, but two had died.
Sadly, George’s father died in the July of 1911. Neither of the sons was married. They continued to live with their mother in Hatton.
His attestation papers showed that George originally attested on 28th November 1915. The following year his brother Thomas died in Chester at the age of 23 years and was buried at Daresbury.
George was finally mobilised in August 1917. He was at that time working as a platelayer’s labourer on the London and North Western Railway and lived at Hewitt’s Cottages in Hatton. He was assigned to the Railway Troops Depot at Longmoor as a Sapper in the Royal Engineers, with the service number 290917. After training he joined his unit, the 278th Railway Company and was sent to Belgium in the December of 1917.
In April 1918, whilst in a dugout with two other sappers, they lit a fire without permission and fell asleep and were overcome by coal-gas fumes. Luckily, they were found by the “night gas and track patrol” and taken to hospital. They had therefore been injured whilst not on duty and were to blame for any after-effects. One week later George re-joined his unit and continued his war service. He was an absent voter in Hatton in 1918 and spring 1919, but came back to England in the March and was demobilised a month later. He must have also been in the Welsh Regiment at some point, as he also had the service number 275537. For his war service he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
George Henry Robinson died on 2nd April 1925 at Bank Quay Railway Station, Warrington, eighteen months before his mother passed away. He was 38 years of age.