Greaser Allan Keith Robathan
HMS Otranto, Mercantile Marine Reserve
Died in Military Service
Date of Birth: 1890
Place of Birth: Handsworth, Staffordshire
Date of Death: 6th June 1915, aged 23
Buried: Gamboa British Cemetery, Republic of Panama, Central America.
Remembered on the family headstone in Teignmouth Cemetery
Awarded the 1914 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal
Greaser Allan Keith Robathan, age 24.
Born 1890 in Handsworth, Staffordshire, he was the son of Arnold and Laura Searle Robathan. In 1901 he was shown on the census with his parents and siblings in Handsworth, West Bromwich.
Allan's younger brother, 2nd Lieutenant Laurence Robathan MiD, 2/5th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment, died of wounds received during the battle for Polygon Wood on 28 September 1917 aged 20.
Later his parents moved to The Mount, Teignmouth.
Allan was serving on HMS Otranto in Brazil as part of the Mercantile Marine Reserve.
He was discharged to hospital on 3 June 1915, where he died of sickness on 6 June 1915. Memorial - Gamboa British Cemetery, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Family headstone Teignmouth Old Cemetery plot CC184
The family headstone in Teignmouth Cemetery reads:
In fond memory of Dorothy Searle Robathan "Called home" Oct 11th 1935
Allan Keith Robathan who fell in the great war buried at Rio Janeiro 1915
Laurence Robathan buried in Flanders 1917
All "Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ"
Also of their mother Laura Searle Robathan "Called Home" Nov 16th 1938 "Joy Unspeakable." 1.Peter.I.8
Also of Arnold Robathan husband of Laura Searle Robathan who died March 30th 1943, Aged 82. "I know whom I have Believed" 2.Tim.I.12.
“also in memory of a. K. Robathan, greaser, mmr. H.M.S. Otranto 6th june 1915 age 23, buried elsewherein this city”.
HMS Otranto
Built in 1909, for the Orient Steam Navigation Company, Otranto was designed as a cruise ship.
When the First World War began in 1914 the British Admiralty requisitioned the Otranto for use as an Auxiliary Light Cruiser. She was armed with four 4.7 inch guns.
Otranto (1909) (G10736). © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London (CC BY-NC-ND)
In the last few months of 1914 she was ordered to the South Atlantic to join the squadron under Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock in their search for the German East Asia Squadron. Her lookouts were the first to spot the German Fleet.
The British Squadron engaged the German Fleet on the 1st November 1914 off the coast of Chile, the battle was called the Battle of Coronel.
HMS Ontranto reported to Admiral Cradock in his flagship, then her commander, Captain Edwards, ordered her out of line, and she headed west at her best speed as she was no match for the German cruisers.
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Otranto patrolled the Brazilian coast and arrived at Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands on 16 December 1915 where she served as the islands' guard ship until 4 February 1915.
She returned to the UK, arriving at Birkenhead on 10 March 1915 for a refit where her 4.7 inch guns were replaced with 6 inch guns.
On 18 June 1915, HMS Otranto arrived at Punta Arenas, Chile to patrol the Pacific coast of South America.
Allan Keith Robathan died on the 6th June 1915, aged 23. He is buried in the Gamboa British Cemetery, Republic of Panama, Central America and remembered in Teignmouth.
