Contributed by Ron Inglis, October 2021:
Labourer Robert Leslie Wilson, 24, enlisted in April 1916. He was married to Lottie Grace Wilson, who moved to Auburn after the war. They had two children, Doreen May and Donald Leslie.
Private Wilson was in Australia for five months before embarking on the Port Sydney on 4 September 1916. He arrived in Plymouth on 29 October and spent the next five months on the Salisbury Plain, including two months in Bulford Hospital being treated for VD. In December 1916, Wilson was classified as B1 fitness at the Australian depot at Pernham Downs in England.
More than a year after enlistment, Wilson crossed to France and was taken on strength of the 35th Battalion in the 3rd Australian Division in Belgium on 21 May 1917. He was killed in action four days later. For his grave in the Strand Military Cemetery, Hainaut, Belgium, his wife chose the inscription: THE LORD GAVE AND THE LORD TAKETH AWAY
Wilson’s widow was granted a pension of￡2 p. f., his eldest child￡1 p. f. and his youngest child 15 shillings p. f.
Wilson came from the Schofields/Windsor district, therefore his name is also on the Riverstone and District War Memorial.
Robert Leslie Wilson is honoured on the following memorials in Australia:
- Auburn War Memorial
- Municipality of Auburn 1914-1919 Honour Roll
- Riverstone and District War Memorial
- Roll of Honour Australian War Memorial Canberra
His decorations:
- British War Medal 1914-20
- Victory Medal
