Private Robert William Leslie Wilson died of wounds sustained in action on 28 September 1916. A short man at 5 feet 4 inches, Robert Wilson had worked on his father's farm in Belfast. He had been educated at both Sefton and Belfast Schools, and as a member of the Loyal Orange Lodge at Belfast and fellow Presbyterian, would have known Francis Adams. He enlisted in June 1915 and arrived in Egypt in November 1915, too late for the Gallipoli campaign. He moved with the rest of the New Zealand Division to France. Robert Wilson's first taste of active service was in the trenches surrounding Armentieres before being transferred with the rest of the Division to the Somme in September 1916. He fought in the intial exchanges of the battle of Flers-Courcellette but was wounded on 27 September 1916. He was admitted to a casualty clearing station with multiple gunshot wounds that were too serious to be treated successfully. He died the next day and was buried in the Dartmoor Cemetery at Becordel-Becourt. he is commemorated on the Belfast War Memorial in Sheldon Park (see photo below).
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