Robert Reginald Atkins was born in the Kent village of Sarre, on 8th January 1900. The younger of two children, his parents were carter Reginald Atkins and his wife, Alice. Alice died in 1908, aged just 30, and her widower moved the family to the village of Martin, near Dover, where he took up work as a miller.
Robert found work as a grocer’s assistant when he completed his schooling. Being so close to the English Channel, the conflict in Europe must have seemed unavoidable. On 7th August 1917, he stepped up to play his part, and enlisted in the Royal Navy.
Boy 2nd Class Atkins was sent to HMS Powerful, the training ship in Devonport, Devon, for his initial instruction. After just two months he was promoted to the rank of Boy 1st Class, and given a posting to the battleship HMS Dominion.
Robert’s time on board was to be brief. By 3rd November he stepped ashore at HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent. He would remain there for the next few months, during which time he came of age. His service records show that Robert was 5ft 7ins (1.71m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.
While stationed at Pembroke, Boy 1st Class Atkins fell ill. He was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, but his condition, pulmonary tuberculosis, was to prove fatal. He died on 21st April 1918, at just 18 years of age.
Robert Reginald Atkins was laid to rest in the Naval section of the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, not far from the dockyard he had briefly called home.
Following Alice’s death, Reginald re-married. By the time of the 1921 census, he was living in Ashford, Kent, with his new wife, Rosa, and their two children, William and Frank. He was still employed as a miller, but this time was working for Mersham Mills.
According to the same census, Robert’s older sister, Monica, was employed in domestic service. She was working for stockbroker Frank Newton-Smith and his family, in their Dover home.
Death and Service 