Date de naissance: 18/02/1885

Lieu de naissance: St. Austell, Cornwall, Angleterre, Royaume-Uni

Profession: Mineur d'étain

Pays: Angleterre, Royaume-Uni

Force armée: British Expeditionary Force

Rang: Private

Numéro de service: 28926

Incorporation nom de lieu: Camborne, Cornwall, Angleterre, Royaume-Uni

Unités:  —  Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 7th Bn.  (Dernière unité connue)

Date de décès: 16/08/1917

Lieu de décès: Schreiboom, Langemark, Belgique

Cause du décès: Killed in action (K.I.A.)

Âge: 32

British War Medal Médaille — 01/05/1920

Victory Medal Médaille — 01/05/1920

Norman Leslie Roberts was born in 1885, together with his twin brother, Jasper Blewett Roberts, in St Austell, Cornwall. He was the son of James Roberts and Grace Blewett. Norman’s mother died that same year and he was adopted. In 1908 Norman married his girlfriend, Elizabeth Jane Bassett. Together they had four daughters. They lived in Camborne, Cornwall, where he worked in a tin mine in Camborne, Cornwall. By the summer of 1917 Norman had joined the army and served with Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 7th Battalion, part of the 61st Brigade, of the 20th (Light) Division in Flanders.

On 16 August 1917 the 7th Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry participated in the attack on the ruins of Langemark. They were to take the third and last objective, at the hamlet of Schreiboom, to the northeast of the village. The 7th King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry advanced before them, capturing Langemark. At 7.20. a.m. Norman’s Battalion continued the attack, moving along the railway. They met opposition at two group of huts. While advancing considerable casualties were caused by machine-gun fire coming from the direction of Japan House, Blue House and the Langemark Cemetery. Notwithstanding the withering fire the Battalion was able to consolidate a line in front of ‘t Goed ter Vesten Farm and Chinese House. Two German counterattacks in the evening endangered the position of the Battalion, but both attacks were eventually broken up and the men were able to maintain their positions.

Private Norman Leslie Roberts was killed in action during the attack on Schreiboom, leaving behind a wife and four young daughters. The 32-year old has no known grave and is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

"Passchendaele. The Day-by-Day Account", McCarthy C., London, Uniform, 2018, pg. 56-58. Sources utilisées

"The history of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry 1914-1919", Wyrall E., Londen, Methuen & Co., 1932 , pg. 262-270. Sources utilisées

Ancestry https://www.ancestry.com/ Autre référence

CWGC https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/830929/roberts,-norman-leslie/ Sources utilisées

The Long, Long Trail http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/ Sources utilisées

War Diary Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 7th Bn. http://www.nmarchive.com/ Autre référence