Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Major R. D. Robertson, Gordon Highlanders, who was wounded and taken prisoner in the retreat from Mons, 26 August 1914, resourcefully repatriated, and renewed his service in Gallipoli and Palestine - he was also a pre-Great War Scottish Rugby Union International

1914 Star, with clasp (2.Lieut: R. D. Robertson. Gord: Highrs); British War and Victory Medals (Major R. D. Robertson.); Defence and War Medals, traces of lacquer, contact marks, generally very fine or better (5) £300-400

Provenance: A. J. Henderson collection, Dix Noonan Webb, December 2005.

Robert Dalrymple Robertson was born in Woolwich, Kent, in July 1891, the son of the late James Robertson, and brother of Hugh Grant Robertson, 1st Battalion Connaught Rangers, who was killed in action 26 April 1915. He was educated privately; at the Imperial Service College, Windsor, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Commissioned into the 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders in October 1911, he was advanced to Lieutenant in September 1914.

Accompanying the 1st Gordons to France on 14 August 1914, he was reported missing on 24 August 1914, found wounded in the right hand and taken prisoner of war during the retreat from Mons on the 26th of that month at Cambrai. Robertson was held at Crefeld P.O.W. Camp and whilst in prison hospital, Robertson elected to deceive his captors by aggravating his wound, thereby raising his hopes of repatriation on the grounds of being unfit for further service. To achieve this, he kept his hand immersed in snow, of which there was plenty, 1914-15 being a particularly severe winter. Consequently, when he appeared before the Repatriation Board, he was not only able to convince them that his wound was much worse than it really was, but also that he had lost his reason. He was repatriated on 17/18 February 1915, the latter being widely reported in the press. A “Telegraaf” correspondent at Oldenzaal reported that ‘a train with British wounded arrived during the night. It conveyed 7 Officers and 93 men, mostly maimed or blind. Members of the Red Cross section offered refreshments. The wounded said they were tired, but were feeling well. The train was taken over by the Dutch medical service, but the German ambulance staff remained in the train, which, after an hour’s stay, started slowly in the direction of Utrecht.’ The names of the wounded officers included Lieutenant R. D. Robertson (of the Gordon Highlanders).

On arriving back in the U.K., Robertson made a complete (and miraculous) recovery, so much so that he served in Gallipoli from October 1915 until January 1916. He was posted to the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Highlanders, the Black Watch, and embarked with them for Palestine in February 1918. On 18 June 1918, he was present at the action at Arsuf, and on that day he took over as Second-in-Command with the acting rank of Major, a post he held until the end of the War. He was also temporarily in command of the Battalion from 9 June to 20 July 1918.

After the War, Robertson returned to the 1st Gordons and went with them to Turkey, commanding ‘A’ Company during the Battalion’s tour of duty policing the Izmid Peninsula of Anatolia. Then after a spell in Malta he was seconded to the West African Frontier Force from October 1924 until September 1926, thereafter returning to the Regiment. In September 1928, he became D.A.A.G. at Army H.Q., having in the previous April, for a short time, commanded the Battalion during the absence of Lieutenant-Colonel Picton-Warlow on leave, and in December 1929 he assumed command of ‘A’ Company. He was made Major in 1929. His last appointment, before retirement, was the command of the Regimental Depot at Castlehill Barracks, Aberdeen, finally retiring to the Reserve of Officers in 1935, and coming off the reserve on attaining the age limit in 1942.

Robertson appears to have taken up further service as temporary Lieutenant, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (Special Branch), from 1944, on H.M.S. St. Clement, a Combined Ops base for major landing craft at The Coal House Fort, Tilbury, Essex. He was promoted Lieutenant Commander on 23 April 1951 and last appears in Navy List’s in 1954.

Prior to the Great War, Robertson was captain and secretary of the London Scottish Rugby Club, and played one international match for Scotland, as a prop forward against France in the Five Nations tournament at Inverleith on 20 January 1912, winning 31-3. He died in December 1971 at Battle, Sussex, aged 80 years.

Sold together with a photographic image of the recipient.