Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

31 July - 10 November 1917. By the summer of 1917 the British Army was able for the first time to fight on its chosen ground on its terms. Having secured the southern ridges of Ypres at Messines in June, the main attack started on 31st July 1917 accompanied by what seemed like incessant heavy rain, which coupled with the artillery barrages conspired to turn much of the battlefield into a bog. Initial failure prompted changes in the high command and a strategy evolved to take the ring of ridges running across the Ypres salient in a series of 'bite and hold' operations, finally culminating in the capture of the most easterly ridge on which sat the infamous village of Passchendaele. The Official History carries the footnote ?The clerk power to investigate the exact losses was not available? but estimates of British casualties range from the official figure of 244,000 to almost 400,000. Within five months the Germans pushed the British back to the starting line, which was where they had been since May 1915.

Detail :

Tonbridge School: "2ND LIEUT. ROBERT FULWELL SAWYER, 17TH BATTN. KING'S ROYAL RIFLE CORPS. KILLED IN ACTION, NR. HOLLEBEKE, AUGUST 24TH, 1917. AGED 31. At the School (Ferox Hall), 1899—1903. Robert Fulwell Sawyer was the eldest son of the late Charles Sawyer. His younger brother, C. G. Sawyer (F.H. 1904—8) served from October to December, 1914, with a British Red Cross Mobile Ambulance Unit attached to the 1st French Cavalry Corps, and then, being invalided and rejected for military service, became Secretary of the Joint War Committee of the British Red Cross Society and Order of St. John. Entering the School in January, 1899, R. F. Sawyer left at Easter, 1903, after being in the Scientific Sixth from September, 1901. After spending twelve months in Berlin and six months in Paris, he entered his father's business, the Autotype Company, West Ealing, in 1904, and had been works manager for some years. On April 22nd, 1908, he had married Kittie, the youngest daughter of John Harrison Wickins, of Faversham, Kent, who survives him. He joined the Inns of Court on December Ist, 1916, and becoming an Officer Cadet in January, 1917, received a temporary commission, dated May 30th, 1917, in the K. R. Rif. C, and joined the 5th Battalion at Sheemess on July 5th. Going out to France on July 24th, he was transferred to the 17th Battalion, and was Acting Company Commander at the Base from July 30th till he left for the Belgian front. Entering the fighting line near Hollebeke on August 22nd, he was wounded and reported missing apparently whilst leading a patrol or raiding party in " No Man's Land." It was not till early in 1920 that the War Office reported that an isolated grave had been located, with a cross bearing his name."




Roberts name appears against a modern article about "Big Data", and a humanities study to cross reference datasets against each other. See also: Traces through Time.

"In another example, linking names in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s database with appeals against conscription (MH 47: See also: Central Military Service Tribunal and Middlesex Appeal Tribunal : Minutes and Papers) has enriched our knowledge about the conscripted men who were killed in service – transforming ‘data’ into a view of individual lives. Looking at some of these links, the project team spotted a Mr Robert Fulwell Sawyer who appealed against conscription in December 1916, on the grounds that his family business, the Autotype company, would collapse without him. The CWGC database reveals that Second Lieutenant Robert Sawyer was killed in action in August 1917. Mr Sawyer’s fears for the future of his firm were not realised and Autotype is still in existence today. The company’s website tells us that [the owner] ‘Charles Sawyer died in 1914 and his son was killed on active service in 1917’, validating our high confidence in linking these two records."

Masonic :

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley