Private Robert Quinn, 24th/27th ( Tyneside Irish ) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He died of wounds received in action on 23rd October 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres, aged 21, and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Belgium. He was wounded by a shell in the attack near Poelcapelle . He had advanced with his pal Morris Jenkinson and had taken shelter in a shell hole when a shell struck the lip of the crater. Pte. Quinn’s leg was blown off. Jenkinson was also wounded and struggled back to try and get help for him. It took 48 hours for the Stretcher Bearers to find the wounded man but he died as they were lifting him onto the stretcher. ( A full description of this incident can be found in John Sheen’s excellent book ” Tyneside Irish ” a wartime history of the 24th,25th,26th and 27th ( Service ) Battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers. The photographs show the dire state of the Flanders battlefield after the incessant shelling had destroyed the drainage systems.
