Robert Abram, Capt.

Remembered with Honour
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A soldier of the Border Regiment
Name	Robert Abram
Rank	Captain
Number
Battalion	3rd Battalion Border Regiment att'd 2nd Battalion Border Regiment
Company
Enlisted
Ctry of service	United Kingdom
Where died	F & F
How died
Age	26
Date of death	26th October 1917
Casualty type	Commonwealth War Dead
Grave ref.	Panel 85 to 86
Resting place	Tyne Cot Memorial

Additional information
Son of Thomas and Mary J. Abram; Husband of Edith E. Abram, of Victoria Lodge, Currock, Carlisle, Cumberland.

Source
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Notes

Robert Abram (21st September, 1891 — 26th October 1917), was a Captain in the 3rd Battalion Border Regiment.

Familiy background

Robert’s family history shows evidence of social mobility in the 19th and early 20th century. Robert was a Grammar School boy who became a Captain in the Border Regiment. His father Thomas was a Locomotive Engine Driver. The railways were an organisation that rewarded the hard work and dedication of sober and responsible men. Thomas had begun as a Labourer on the Railways and had risen to being a Stoker and then a Driver. His own father, also Robert, is recorded as being in the Brampton Union Workhouse aged 5 in 1841. His mother (we presume) Ann Abrams (sic), aged 25, and brother John (aged 2) were also in the Workhouse. Robert and John may have been together in the Infants Room (at least until Robert turned 7) but they would have been separated from their mother.

Workhouses after the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 had been made deliberately harsh to ensure only the most destitute applied, so families were split up. We can only imagine what young Robert endured. At least by the age of 16 he was working as a servant for a farmer of 160 acres and later he became a railway guard. He died in 1895, without seeing the success of his son. Thomas and his wife Mary Jane Hamilton had seven children: Robert was the second child and only he and younger brother Henry attended the Grammar School.

School record

Robert was good at sport at school: he captained the Rugby Football XV in 1910 having played in the team in 1908 “A light but hard working forward. Is especially good as a front rank man in the scrum. Follows up well.”) and also in 1909 (“The hardest worker in the scrum, and one of the keenest at practices. With a little more originality in the open he would become a really good forward.”. As Captain he was described as “energetic”.

He was academic: he won a form prize in 1908; won prizes for English, Greek and Geography in 1909; in 1911 the School Medal for good character and proficiency was awarded to Robert Abram. He was also a keen member of the Debating Society and was Secretary by 1909. One of the debates in 1909 concerned whether we should fear a German invasion. Robert thought not. In 1910 we learn his favourite author was Thackeray. He opened the debate on the Abolition of the House of Lord and spoke with “great vehemence”; he preferred football to cricket; town life to country; and was against aviation! In 1911 he spoke against women’s suffrage; and also against military conscription!

War service

Robert was killed in the Battle of Passchendaele in October 1917. His body was never recovered and he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial outside Ypres. The 26th October had been a day of heavy losses for the Border Regiment and Captain Abram’s death is reported in Col Wylly’s account of the Regiment in the Great War: “the men got stuck in mud up to their waists and were almost entirely wiped out by machine-gun fire”; “Practically the whole of this company fell…” It was a sorry end to his short life.

Other

The Carliol Magazine reports Robert’s marriage at St Mary’s Church, Walney Island, on 17th January, 1917, to Nellie, daughter of Thomas Bushby, of Carlisle.

References / notes

Text courtesy of Trinity School, Carlisle, Cumbria; taken from the following sources:

• Carlisle School Memorial Register 1264-1924
• Census: 1911 (RG14); 1901 (RG13/4865); 1891 (RG12/4287) & (RG12/4289); 1881 (RG11/5156); 1851 (HO107/2427); 1841 (HO107/167/14)
• Col. H.C. Wylly: The Border Regiment in the Great War (book) 1924
• The Carliol 1908; 1909; 1917

Abbreviations and notes for soldier's remembrance infobox
d. = died (see point 7 below)	d.o.w. = died of wounds	k.i.a. = killed in action	F & F = France and Flanders (inc. Italy)
Places where soldiers were born, enlisted and died (or buried) have been listed as it was originally published in Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-19, Volume 39, The Border Regiment. As a result you may notice some variations in spelling due to a combination of factors including the changes made in the Governmental reform of 1965 and 1974. Some place names changed slightly and some county borders were moved, which either enlarged or reduced these counties in overall size. It might be possible that a town belonging to one county could now belong to another when the borders of those counties moved. Many military abbreviations have also been included here as it was published at the time, for example, the rank Sergeant is sometimes spelt Serjeant depending on the source material. Various ranks have also in many cases been abbreviated, for example, Private is abbreviated to Pte., Lance Corporal to L/Cpl. and Company Sergeant Major CSM Resident signifies where the soldier was living at the time he enlisted. The residences of the enlistees, in many cases, were different to places they enlisted in. Att'd/trans. signifies a soldier was attached or transferred to another unit whilst serving in the Border Regiment. Former unit signifies a soldier served in another unit prior to be transferred to the Border Regiment. Awards are included if a soldier was awarded, for instance, the Distinguished Conduct Medal. This field is usually left blank although many casualties of the Border Regiment were awarded for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. This terminology was usually used in awards such as DCM citations. A full list of Distinguished Conduct Medal Citations has been transcribed. How died can be somewhat ambiguous, for instance d. simply signifies that the soldier died but does not elaborate any further. This could mean he died as a result of sickness such as dysentry, colitis, pneumonia or malaria etc., or possibly an accidental death. Where died usually signifies the theatre of war such as France and Flanders, Macedonia, Gallipoli, Balkans and/or a country such as Egypt etc. Grave ref. list a variety of different references. Most will provide alpha-numeric references and some will show, for instance, Panel 6, Rear of churchyard or in other cases will simply remain blank as no reference has been provided.