Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

15/09/1915

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

21/10/1888

Place of Birth

Sydney NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

School(s) Attended

Sydney Boys' High School, University of Sydney, University of Jena (Germany)

Occupation

Associate Professor Modern Languages, Royal Military College

Next of Kin

Joseph Kitson Robinson (father), Church Street, Ashfield NSW

Final Rank

Captain

Final Unit

AIF Headquarters

Mentioned in Despatches (Date of Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 24 October 1918, page 2057, position 86)

Robinson was Associate Professor of Modern Languages at the Royal Military College, Duntroon before the war (from February 1913). At Duntroon he had the status of Captain-on-leave and on 15 September 1915 was appointed Quartermaster and Honorary Lieutenant in the AIF with the 8th Field Ambulance. He was appointed as an Honorary Captain in September 1916 in France and served in the war in the Intelligence Corps and at 5th Division Headquarters. Robinson was mentioned in despatches in April 1918 (for meritorious service and devotion to duty during the period 22nd September 1917 to 25th February 1918) including at the Battle of Polygon Wood. In September 1917 Robinson based himself at Hooge Crater where he interrogated German prisoners and checked the accuracy of Brigadier Elliott's report on the fighting. 

In November 1918 he was posted to AIF Headquarters in London and appointed Assistant Director of Education for Depots in the UK. He married Catherine Robertson-Glasgow in London before resuming his position at Duntroon. Dr. Robinson wrote a history of Canberra published in 1924 and that same year he was appointed lecturer in English and German at the University of Queensland. Robinson served briefly in World War 2 as an intelligence officer and then as a censor. He died in Brisbane on 26 August 1971.

Description - height 5 feet 7 inches, weight 138 pounds, chest 34-36 inches, Church of England.

Ross Howarth, 'Civilians employed at the Royal Military College of Australia, Duntroon, from 1911 to 1931', RMC Duntroon, November 2000
Nancy Bonnin, 'Robinson, Frederick Walter (1888–1971)', Australian Dictionary of Biography online, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/adbonline.htm
Ross McMullin, 'Pompey Elliott', 2002
Jonathon Passlow, 'Battle of Polygon Wood', Australian Army History Unit, 2018, p.128
NAA RecordSearch – Series B884 (Citizen's Military Forces Personnel Dossiers, 1939-1947)
Canberra & District Historical Society Newsletter, November 1971
AWM Honours & Awards