Remembered
On This Day, 28 May 1917

Robert Hilary Lockhart Whitelaw died of wounds on this day in 1917

Robert Hilary Lockhart Whitelaw
Robert Hilary Lockhart Whitelaw

Robert Whitelaw was born at Tibbermore, Perthshire in 1895, the son of William and Gertrude Whitelaw. 

Their home in 1901 was in Kensington. The Census that April reveals that his mother, then 33 years old, was at home with her four children William, Audrey, Robert and Geoffrey (then 9, 7, 6, 2). They had living with them no fewer than 11 servants: two nurses, three housemaids, a butler, footman, tutor, a kitchen maid, cook and a 16 year old sewing maid (from Switzerland).  

At the outbreak of war the Whitelaws were back in Scotland at 18 Rothesay Terrace, Edinburgh.

Robert was educated at Trinity College, Glenalmond. He was a keen cricketer having played for the Grange Cricket Club, Edinburgh. 

Grange Cricket Club, Edinburgh
Grange Cricket Club, Edinburgh

Robert gained a commission in the Royal Horse Guards before being sent to the Western Front on 8 November 1916. Wounded near Arras on 7 May 1917, he died of wounds in No.8 General Hospital, Rouen three weeks later and is now buried in St.Sever Cemetery, Rouen.

St Sever Cemetery, Rouen
St. Sever Cemetery, Rouen (Photo - CWGC)

Robert's brothers William and Geoffrey served in the Great War; they too died. 

Younger brother 2/Lt Geoffrey Lacey died 14 April 1918 - he was 19. Older brother 2/Lt William (died 14 February 1919 age 28). He was married. His son William (later parliamentarian Willie Whitelaw)was born 28 June 1918, served with distinction in the Second World War and inherited the family estate from his grandfather in 1948.

Willie Whitelaw
William 'Willie' Whitelaw in 1963 (Born June 1918)
Headstone Whitelaw Family
Family headstone - in loving memory to the three Whitelaw brothers: William, Robert and Geoffrey

2/Lt Robert Hilary Lockhart Whitelaw, Household Battalion

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