SEPTIMUS ROBINSON 

1803 Sapper Septimus Robinson, 10th (Railway) Company, Royal Engineers, died of enteric fever (typhoid) at Bloemfontein, on May 27th, 1900. He is buried at President Brand Cemetery, President Avenue, Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Septimus Robinson was born on 9th March 1875 in Egton cum Newland, Lancashire, the seventh child of William (1834 - 1893) and Agnes nee Johnson (1831 - 1901). The census of 1881 shows that his father was a farmer of 80 acres, employing two men at Arras Foot Farm. By 1891, the family was living at Plas Yw Farm, Nannerch, near Mold in North Wales. His father died on 31st December 1893. In February 1897, 21-year-old Septimus appears on the records of the London and North Western Railway Company as a labourer (employee number: 5473). He had previously been working for his mother and elder brother on Plas Yw Farm in Nannerch.

Septimus died of enteric fever (typhoid) at Bloemfontein, South Africa on 27th May 1900. He is commemorated on the Royal Engineers South African Memorial Arch in Brompton Barracks, Gillingham, Kent, England, and also on a plaque at the Church of St Michael and All Saints in Nannerch, where he had been in the church choir for ten years. The inscription there reads:

The plaque, which features the crest of the Crewe Engineers, was placed on the south wall of the church on Saturday 28rd July 1900. The following day, on Sunday 29th, twenty members of the Crewe Wheelers’ Cycling Club rode over to Nannerch for a commemorative service before leaving at 5pm that same day for the journey home, a round trip of some 90 miles. Some of them were fellow Engineers (newspaper reports vary between whether the group was the Engineers or the Wheelers). They were provided with refreshments by Sapper Robinson's mother.

Newspaper articles

DEATH OF A NANNERCH MAN AT THE FRONT.

Great regret has been occasioned in the parish of Nannerch by the news of the death from fever at Bloemfontein of Sapper Septimus Robinson, of the Royal Engineers, son of Mrs. Robinson, Plas Yw. The deceased, who was well known and much loved in the parish, was educated at the National Schools, and was a member of the church choir for upwards of ten years. He was only 24 years of age. The parishioners of Nannerch intend to place a brass tablet in the church in memory of the deceased.

MEMORIAL TO A WELSH SOLDIER AT NANNERCH. -

A brass memorial tablet is about to be placed in Nannerch Church, in memory of Sapper Septimus Robinson, of the Royal Engineers, who died at Bloemfontein of fever on May 26th last. Robinson, whose mother resides at Nannerch, was a member of the church choir for ten years, and was only 24 years old at the time of his death. The amount required to defray the cost of the tablet has already been subscribed by the parishioners of Nannerch, where deceased was much liked and respected.

(The Chester Courant, Wednesday 25th July 1900)

Memorial to a South Africa Hero
There was a very interesting service last Sunday morning, at the parish church in Nannerch, near Mold, in connection with a memorial brass tablet which had the previous day been placed on the south wall of the church, by public subscription in memory of Sapper Septimus Robinson, of the Royal Engineers, who died at Bloemfontein on May 27th from fever. The deceased young man was a native of the village: and was for ten years a member of the church choir. He was employed at the London and North-Western Railway Company's locomotive works at Crewe, and was a member of the Crewe Engineers from which corps he volunteered for service in South Africa. On Sunday morning, upwards of twenty members of the Crewe Wheelers’ Cycling Club / Crewe Engineers cycled over from Crewe to Nannerch, which was reached about half-past nine, and at eleven o'clock the Engineers cycled up to the church and attended a special memorial service, at which an appropriate sermon was delivered by the Rev Watkin Williams (rector), and at the close the organist played the ' Dead March', the congregation upstanding the while. Afterwards the Engineers proceeded to Plas Yw, the residence of Sapper Robinson's mother, who hospitably entertained them. In the afternoon they made the ascent of Moel Arthur, a mountain from which a splendid view is obtainable.  The visitors were also entertained by Mr Buddicom to tea, leaving about five on their return journey to Crewe. The brass memorial plate bears a suitable inscription and is surmounted by a representation of the crest of the Crewe Engineers.
(Denbighshire Free Press - Saturday 04 August 1900)

Remembered in the Municipal Building, Crewe
Septimus is commemorated on a plaque on the ground floor of the Municipal Building, Earle Street, Crewe, along with six other local men from the Royal Engineers who did not return to Crewe from the Boer War, Sappers Ankers, Coops, Darlington, Evans, Foy, Madeley, Roberts and Talbot, and Lieutenant Charles Trotter from Polesworth in Warwickshire.