ROBERT BERTRAND WOOTTON
BOBS
Born: 7th September 1916, Ipswich.
Died: 10th October 1944; age: 28; on active service with the Central Mediterranean Force.
Residence: ‘Quinton’, 57, Bucklesham Road, Ipswich.
Occupation: with his long-established family business of Woottons (Ipswich), Ltd.
Rank: Captain; Service Number: 149783.
Regiment: Royal Artillery, 57 Field Regiment.
Grave Reference:
III.S.6.
Italy.
Relatives Notified & Address: Only son of Bertrand Spragg Wootton & May Quinton Wootton, of Ipswich.
Father: Bertrand Spragg Wootton, born November 1879, Ipswich. A Company Director.
Mother: May Quinton Wootton (nee Hickling), born January 1879, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
Robert attended Ipswich School – he left the school 1932.
Robert was a Boy Scout and a Rover Scout, he also enjoyed yachting.
ENGLAND & WALES 1939 REGISTER
Robert was a Gunner, 895778, for the 229 Battery, 58th Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery. He was staying with the Haskell family, of 60, Westerfield Road, Ipswich. His friend, Granville James Haskell, was also a Gunner, 895759, for the 229 Battery, 58th Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery.
Probate to Bertrand Spragg Wootton – father & Frank Percival Wootton – paternal uncle, both Company Directors.
Robert is also remembered on the Chapel war memorial at Ipswich School, and at St. Augustine of Hippo Church, Ipswich.
25th October 1944 – Evening Star.
IPSWICH OFFICER KILLED
Captain R.B. Wootton, R.A.
As the war progresses to its successful issue, every day brings notification of the sacrifice of promising young lives in the cause to which thy had so ungrudgingly dedicated themselves. The latest addition to the roll of honour of Ipswich School is the name of one whose memory is hallowed in the county of his birth and upbringing: Captain Robert B. Wootton, Royal Artillery, son of Mr. and Mrs. B.S. Wootton, of Bucklesham Road, Ipswich, who have received notification from the War Office that he was killed on active service in the Central Mediterranean area in October. Robert Wootton was born in Ipswich in September 1915, an only son. Educated at Ipswich School, he early evidenced those qualities which made him especially helpful in work to which he devoted heart and energy, the Boy Scout and Rover moment. His colleagues will long remember affectionately many instances of his good fellowship and kindly nature. Yachting also absorbed some of his leisure activities. After training at Manchester, Southend and elsewhere, “Bobs,” as he was known to his intimates, joined the long-established family business of Woottons (Ipswich), Ltd. At the time of the Munich crisis, 1938 in company with others of his contemporaries who saw more clearly than their befogged elders the imminence of war, he enlisted in the Territorials. He was with Field-Marshal Montgomery through the whole of the desert fighting which brought the turning-point of the war, and, like other “Desert Rats,” he carried the spirit of that great campaign to further service. Great sympathy will be felt with his parents and his sister throughout East Suffolk, where Robert Wootton was so well-known and so much liked.
7th Armoured Division Desert Rats
The 57th (East Surrey) Anti-tank Regiment (TA) served with the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) in France in 1940, in the 44th (Home Counties) Division and was evacuated at Dunkirk. At that time it consisted of 225th, 226th, 227th and 228th Batteries. It arrived in North Africa in July 1942, with two Batteries serving with the 7th Armoured Division, during the Battle of El Alamein, with the regiment being part of 44th (Home Counties) Division. In September 1943, it saw service in Italy with 8th Army, where it remained unit the end of the war.
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