Background
Robert King was born December 25, 1885, in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, to Robert Albert John King and Susanna Doyle. According to census records, Robert was an only child. At some point in his childhood, the family relocated to New Brunswick from Prince Edward Island and lived at 145 Regent Street in Fredericton. Although very little is known about his birth father, his mother re-married a gentleman named Patrick McClay. While few documents detail his early childhood, Robert grew up to work at the Waverly Hotel in Fredericton as a hotel porter and, by all accounts, it appears he was well-known and liked by many in the community. In addition to working at the Waverly Hotel, records suggest that he worked odd jobs as a labourer throughout the area. According to his attestation papers, Robert had previous military experience spending 4 years with the 71st Carleton York Regiment before his formal enlistment August 23, 1914 in Fredericton. At the time of enlistment with the 12th Battalion, Robert was thirty-five years old, single, and was described as having grey eyes, black hair, and a dark complexion. He stood approximately five feet seven inches tall. Along with other Fredericton boys from the area, he left for Valcartier Camp in Quebec, arriving in early September. Newspapers suggest he initially was employed as a cook with his unit before requesting an opportunity for training to get to the Western Front.
Wartime Experience
On October 3, 1914, Private Robert King embarked from Valcartier, Quebec, aboard the S.S. Scotian for England. Upon arrival Robert remained with the 12th Battalion employed as a cook at Shorncliffe during the winter of 1914-1915 before landing in France after seven months in England. In late June, 1915, Private King gave up his position as a cook and went to France as part of a reserve unit with the 12 Battalion just before the Battle of Festubert. This early battle was a grim fight that saw many Canadians involved in frontal assaults against powerful German defenses, resulting in few gains and many casualties. Few, if any, recognized at the time that this period marked the start of a long and bloody war of attrition. While the Canadians contributed to the Allied efforts here, they sustained thousands of casualties in the process. According to Robert's active service records, over the next few months he would receive a series of debilitating injuries to his knees, back, ribs, and lungs, as well as numerous health problems, that limited his time in the field. By early November, 1915, Robert was in hospital suffering from a rifle grenade wound and other injuries after being buried alive from an exploding enemy shell. The spring of 1916 again saw King back in hospital after receiving a contusion to his back and ribs during fighting. In June, 1916, the Daily Gleaner reported these injuries under the heading "Pte. Robt. King of Fredericton, is among wounded", suggesting that he had been admitted to the 3rd Western General Hospital in Manchester, England. While his medical history sheet highlights a soldier unwilling to leave the front, indicating that he had "no complaints and feels fit" continuing in the trenches for 14 months, Private King's series of injuries and ailments became so difficult that medical staff eventually declared him unfit for service and discharged him home to Canada in September, 1917. On September 13, Robert sailed from Liverpool, England aboard the Transport #8261 under special authority from the Canadian Army. After spending the next two years in military hospitals at Saint John and Fredericton, medical staff eventually recommended that he be discharged altogether from treatment because in their opinion "he will always have this disability as a result of his service". By 1920, Robert met a young woman, Jennie Scott "Burton", who had previously lost her husband to pneumonia and together they married on October 2, 1920 in Saint John. While his mother, Susan, remained in Fredericton, Robert and Jennie stayed in Saint John with him becoming the adopted father to her two sons, Vernon and Burton. By the winter of 1921, both Robert and his mother, became increasingly ill from lung infections. Susan would pass-away in Fredericton on November 28, 1921 while Robert eventually was admitted to the Lancaster Military Hospital in Saint John where his conditioned worsened and he died April 13, 1922 due to tuberculosis. News of his death was reported in local Saint John and Fredericton papers on Saturday, April 15, 1922 indicating that his funeral took place at the Church of the Assumption in Fairville. Robert was thirty-nine years of age.
Lest We Forget
Private Robert King is buried at the Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Saint John, New Brunswick.