This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Pennsylvania.
The grave of Stanley Daniel Robinson
Stanley Robinson was born in Ingersoll, Oxford County, Ontario on 22 July 1898, the sixth of the nine children, and third son, of Daniel and Annie Robinson.[1] The family was mostly born in Canada but Robinson parents and the younger members of the family came to the United States sometime after 1911; their movements over this period are difficult to trace but by 1916 his parents were living in Lowellville, Ohio.
Robinson, who was a spinner in a mill, enlisted in Woodstock, Ontario on 8 January 1916, aged 17—he gave his date of birth as 22 February 1897. He joined the newly-raised 168th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was allocated the number 675092. On 5 May he transferred to 4th Canadian Pioneer Battalion on its formation at St. Andrews, New Brunswick.[2]Continue reading →
This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Pennsylvania.
Cadet Clifford Norman Murray
Clifford Norman Murray was born on 6 July 1897 at Pensnett, Staffordshire (now in the West Midlands), the eldest of the three children of Thomas and Ada Murray.[1] Sailing onboard the RMS Franconia from Liverpool, the family emigrated to the United States on 5 June 1913, and settled in Swissvale, east of Pittsburgh. When he left school, Murray went to work with the Union Switch and Signal Company. In 1917 the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, although they kept a house in Swissvale.
On 12 October 1917, Clifford Murray enlisted for service with the Royal Flying Corps (152452, Cadet) and in December after ground training in Toronto he went to Fort Worth, Texas with No. 81 Canadian Training Squadron. A little under two months later, on 14 February 1918 when flying about two miles south-east of Field No. 2 his aircraft, a Curtis JN4 serial C.736, went into a spinning nose-dive. Cadet Murray died due to a fractured skull in the inevitable crash. His body was returned to Swissvale. After a military funeral—in which his casket was draped with the flags of both nations and honours were provided by the United Spanish War Veterans—he was buried in the nearby Monongahela Cemetery. His grave is in Section 3, Lot 90, which is in the west-centre of the cemetery. When his mother died in 1929 she was buried alongside him; his father is also buried in the cemetery.
The grave of Clifford Norman Murray
Cadet Clifford Norman Murray is commemorated on page 591 of the Canadian First World War Book of Remembrance; that page is displayed on 21 December. He is also commemorated in Dudley on the Higher Elementary School war memorial.[2]
His nephew (his brother’s son), Clifford Norman Murray, served with the United States Air Force.
Acknowledgement:
Chris Dubbs and Dale Pysher for their efforts to visit and photograph the grave.
Dr Peter Wardle for permission to use the photograph of Dudley Higher Elementary School war memorial.
Cadet Clifford Norman Murray
The grave of Clifford Norman Murray
The Canadian Book of Remembrance showing the entry for Cadet Clifford Norman Murray
The Higher Elementary School war memorial
1. (Back) Thomas Murray (30 January 1876-5 June 1960) married Ada Fereday (19 September 1877-4 May 1929): Archie Vernon (26 October 1904-28 October 1965), Doreen Malvena Ada (later Poxon) (31 August 1909-17 January 1999).
2. (Back) The school was later named the Sir Gilbert Claughton School and when it closed in 1990 the buildings became the Claughton Centre. The building is now derelict and the memorial has been removed for safekeeping.
This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Pennsylvania.
Ernest Thomas McVicker
Born in Hanley in the Staffordshire Potteries on 4 November 1884, Ernest McVicker emigrated to the United States with his parents around 1887.[1] He grew up in Pittsburgh, where his siblings were born and where he went to work in the glass industry; he was a member of the American Flint Glass Workers Union. Continue reading →
Sacrifice 