Arthur Claude Vyvyan-Robinson was born in Penarth Wales on September 8, 1880. He was the oldest of seven children and his father, Philip Augustus Vyvyan-Robinson, was a Coal Merchant. His mother, Susan Kate Francis Vyvyan-Robinson (née Pring) died in June 1897, when Arthur was 16 years old, from complications resulting from the birth of his youngest brother Francis. After being educated at Repton School, Arthur worked as a Merchant’s Clerk and in 1911 was living in Penarth, Wales. His father died in July of that same year.
On September 18, 1914 Arthur Claude Vyvyan-Robinson was commissioned as a temporary Lieutenant in the 10th (Reserve) Battalion, The Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment). He joined the 1/9th Battalion Manchester Regiment on July 2, 1915 in Gallipoli as they were going into the trenches. He was 34 years old.
He was involved in the Battle of Krithia Vineyard and came through it unscathed. However, on the evening of Sept 2nd he led a party of 14 men who were detailed to dig a trench joining the current Firing Line with the Northern Barricade. As they made their way in the dark they lost their bearings, going too far East, and were fired on by the Royal Naval Division. Lt. Vyvyan-Robinson and three men were wounded and one man was reported missing. He had received two wound; a perforating gun shot wound to his left chest and a bullet through, and shattering, his right kneecap. Lt. Vyvyan-Robinson was evacuated directly from GULLY BEACH onto the hospital ship Delta which left on September 4, 1915 for Southampton, arriving there on September 13th. He then embarked upon a long road to recovery and was finally passed fit for light home duty 18 months later on March 3, 1917 and transferred to the 3rd Reserve Battalion South Lancs. Regiment, at Crosby. Needless to say, he did not return to the 1/9th Battalion Manchester Regiment and resigned his commission on March 26, 1919.
After the war he met and married Patricia MacDonnell in June 1923 and settled in Hampshire. Their son, Arthur Frederick Vyvyan-Robinson, was born in November 1925 and a daughter, Claudia Frances Vyvyan-Robinson, followed in February 1932. By the outbreak of World War Two, the family had moved to Surrey and their son was away at The Nautical College, Pangbourne. Arthur Claude had retired and they home schooled their daughter.
At some point in the 1950s they moved to Cornwall where Lt. Arthur Claude Vyvyan-Robinson died on July 14, 1960. He was 79 years old.