Victor Ernest Robinson MTB 639

Enquiries relating to individual men and women who served with HM Light Coastal Forces; help with interpreting service records, or with tracing former comrades
AlastairNW
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Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2021 9:17 am

Victor Ernest Robinson MTB 639

Postby AlastairNW » Wed Nov 17, 2021 9:23 am

Hello all, new all to this, so please be paitent with me!

I'm looking for information on Victor Ernest Robinson (my grandmother's uncle), photos, who he served with etc. I only found about him a few years ago, with very little information, as my grandma never talked much about him.

So far I've learnt that he served on MTB 639, in the the 3rd MTB Flotilla (I think), and was killed in April 28th 1943 when sunk by either an Italian MTB or a German aircraft off Sagittario.

He was a Stoker 1st Class, service no.P/KX 138391.

Any help would be really appriciated, and help me build a picture of his (short) life.

Regards, Alastair Wilson

Admin
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Re: Victor Ernest Robinson MTB 639

Postby Admin » Fri Nov 19, 2021 9:57 am

Hello Alastair, and welcome to the forum

MTB 639 belonged to the 32nd MTB Flotilla, and there is information on 639 and other boats in the flotilla in other threads in the forum which I list below. The official Admiralty listing of vessels lost at sea during the Second World War gives attack by aircraft as the reason for the boat's loss. I have drawn together the information we have from available sources such as casualty and award databases, and there is also a crew photo to be found on the Royal Navy Research Archive Archive web site which is also given below.

Associated Threads:

MTB 633

MTB 640

MTB 634, MTB 624, MGB 662

MTB 638

=========================

32nd MTB Flotilla: 633, 634, 635, 636, 637, 638, 639, 640


Crew Photo:
Crew Photo for MTB 639 on Royal Navy Research Archive, posted by Frank O’Neill


Casualties:

Lieutenant Philip Francis Stewart Gould
Navy: Royal Navy Unit: H.M.M.T.B. 639 Date: 28th April 1943 Age: 26 Burial or Memorial: Enfidaville War Cemetery (II. F. 27.) Next of Kin: Son of lt.-col. Philip Gould and Marie Agusta Gould, of Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire; Husband of Mary Gould, of Shedfield, Hampshire.

Ordinary Seaman Frank Hargreaves
Service No: D/JX 347760 Navy: Royal Navy Unit: H.M.M.T.B. 639 Date: 28th April 1943 Burial or Memorial: Plymouth Naval MemoriaL (Panel 80, Column 2.)

Lieutenant Arthur Gordan Douglas Heybyrne
Navy: Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Unit: H.M.M.T.B. 639 Date: 4th May 1943 Age: 28 Burial or Memorial: Enfidaville War Cemetery (I. D. 29.) Next of Kin: Son of Arthur James Heybyrne and Elizabeth Graham Heybyrne, of Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset; Husband of Olive Elsie Heybyrne.

Ordinary Seaman Leonard Lloyd
Service No: P/JX 347066 Navy: Royal Navy Unit: H.M.M.T.B. 639 Date: 28th April 1943 Age: 20 Burial or Memorial: Portsmouth Naval Memorial (Panel 76, Column 2.) Next of Kin: Son of Thomas and Annie J. Lloyd, of Hulme, Manchester.

Stoker 1st Class Victor Ernest Robinson
Service No: P/KX 138391 Navy: Royal Navy Unit: H.M.M.T.B. 639 Date: 28th April 1943 Age: 22 Burial or Memorial: Portsmouth Naval MemoriaL (Panel 78, Column 2.) Next of Kin: Son of Fred and Edhel Robinson, of Fairfield, Buxton, Derbyshire.

Lieutenant George Lambert Russell
Navy: Royal Navy Unit: H.M.M.T.B. 639 Date: 28th April 1943 Burial or Memorial: Portsmouth Naval Memorial (Panel 80, Column 1.)

Able Seaman Arthur Kenneth Woods
Service No: P/JX 160888 Navy: Royal Navy Unit: H.M.M.T.B. 639 Date: 28th April 1943 Age: 19 Burial or Memorial: Portsmouth Naval Memorial (Panel 76, Column 1.) Next of Kin: Son of Maj. Arthur Woods and Elsie May Woods, of Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire.

Awards:

Temporary Lieutenant George Lambert Russell RNVR MID London Gazette: 11th January 1944

Temporary Acting Sub-Lieutenant Anthony Youatt RNVR DSC London Gazette: 11th January 1944

Petty Officer Patrick Fenwick Crossey RN P/JX 126527 DSM London Gazette: 11th January 1944


CFVA Membership:

John Hargreaves (1427) Preston, Lancashire

George Lesslie (2125) Great Yarmouth, Norfolk


References:

Ships of the Royal Navy Satement of Losses (British Vessels Lost at Sea - Stephens - 1976) p26

Sunk by A/C, Central Mediterranean


Regards
Admin

AlastairNW
Seaman
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2021 9:17 am

Re: Victor Ernest Robinson MTB 639

Postby AlastairNW » Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:20 pm

Thank you for the help, really appriciated.

Admin
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Posts: 501
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 7:40 pm

Re: Victor Ernest Robinson MTB 639

Postby Admin » Tue Nov 23, 2021 9:16 am

Did you recognise your Uncle in the the crew photograph?

AlastairNW
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Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2021 9:17 am

Re: Victor Ernest Robinson MTB 639

Postby AlastairNW » Tue Nov 23, 2021 10:28 am

Unfortunatley not, as I don't know what he looks like. I'll have to ask my Grandma if she does, but unlikely as she was only young when he was killed.

GrahamC
Seaman
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2022 4:36 pm

Re: Victor Ernest Robinson MTB 639

Postby GrahamC » Thu Apr 07, 2022 4:44 pm

Hello - I have just registered to the Forum to reply to this post!

Stoker (1st Class) Victor Ernest Robinson is named on the WW2 Royal Navy Panel on Buxton Memorial. My website dedicated to all on that Memorial is currently being re-written, but you can preview Victor's page at https://buxtonwarmemorials.co.uk/wordpr ... -robinson/
The link should work, but the site has not yet been fully uploaded.
Hope this helps - especially Alistair, who is Victor's gr-gr-nephew.
Best wishes
GrahamC


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