Military service
Burial/memorial information
Son of Dr. Israel and Mrs. Powel, Victoria, British Columbia.
Digital gallery of Lieutenant Robert Branks Powell
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Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Robert Branks Powell
Robert Branks POWELL, son of Dr. Israel and Mrs. Powel, Victoria, BC. Born on April 2, 1881; killed at the Battle of Vimy Ridge on April 29, 1917 whilst leading his platoon of 50 men in a charge in the battle of Vimy Ridge – age 36.
He was a lawyer and worked for B.C’s Lt. Gov. and Canada’s Governor General. He played competitive tennis in BC and won titles in the states of Washington and Oregon, and in France, Germany, Austria and Monte Carlo; in 1908 reached the men’s semi-finals at Wimbledon.
At the outbreak of WWI he was in Chicago; went to England to enlist for basic training; attesting at Shorncliffe, Kent, on August 18, 1915.
In Feb 1917, while stationed in France, he wrote this letter home: "Darling Mother, please don't worry and be anxious about me. If I fall, I should like you only to feel pride in the fact that I am trying to do my highest duty and never to mourn me. But I have confidence that God will help me to come through it. But the whole thing is hell."
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Robert Branks Powell
1913 Canadian Davis Cup Team - Robert Branks POWELL, seated.
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Robert Branks Powell
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Robert Branks Powell
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Robert Branks Powell
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Robert Branks Powell
Memorial Plaque commemorating barristers and students, members of the Alberta law society, who died while serving in the First World War.
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Robert Branks Powell
Courtesy Wilf Schofield, England
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Robert Branks Powell
Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Robert Branks Powell
Newspaper clipping from Daily Telegraph of May 8, 1917. Image taken from web address of http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214563/Daily-Telegraph-May-8-1917.html
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Robert Branks Powell
From the Daily Colonist of May 4, 1917. Image taken from web address of http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist59y125uvic#page/n0/mode/1up
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Robert Branks Powell
From the Daily Colonist of May 12, 1917. Image taken from web address of http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist59y132uvic#page/n0/mode/1up
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Robert Branks Powell
From the Daily Colonist of May 30, 1917. Image taken from web address of http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist59y147uvic#page/n0/mode/1up
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Robert Branks Powell
From the Daily Colonist of June 10, 1917. Image taken from web address of http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist59y157uvic#page/n0/mode/1up
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Robert Branks Powell
From the Daily Colonist of June 26, 1917. Image taken from web address of https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist59y170uvic#page/n0/mode/1up
Image gallery
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Robert Branks POWELL, son of Dr. Israel and Mrs. Powel, Victoria, BC. Born on April 2, 1881; killed at the Battle of Vimy Ridge on April 29, 1917 whilst leading his platoon of 50 men in a charge in the battle of Vimy Ridge – age 36. He was a lawyer and worked for B.C’s Lt. Gov. and Canada’s Governor General. He played competitive tennis in BC and won titles in the states of Washington and Oregon, and in France, Germany, Austria and Monte Carlo; in 1908 reached the men’s semi-finals at Wimbledon. At the outbreak of WWI he was in Chicago; went to England to enlist for basic training; attesting at Shorncliffe, Kent, on August 18, 1915. In Feb 1917, while stationed in France, he wrote this letter home: "Darling Mother, please don't worry and be anxious about me. If I fall, I should like you only to feel pride in the fact that I am trying to do my highest duty and never to mourn me. But I have confidence that God will help me to come through it. But the whole thing is hell."
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1913 Canadian Davis Cup Team - Robert Branks POWELL, seated.
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Memorial Plaque commemorating barristers and students, members of the Alberta law society, who died while serving in the First World War.
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Courtesy Wilf Schofield, England
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Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
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Newspaper clipping from Daily Telegraph of May 8, 1917. Image taken from web address of http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214563/Daily-Telegraph-May-8-1917.html
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From the Daily Colonist of May 4, 1917. Image taken from web address of http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist59y125uvic#page/n0/mode/1up
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From the Daily Colonist of May 12, 1917. Image taken from web address of http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist59y132uvic#page/n0/mode/1up
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From the Daily Colonist of May 30, 1917. Image taken from web address of http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist59y147uvic#page/n0/mode/1up
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From the Daily Colonist of June 10, 1917. Image taken from web address of http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist59y157uvic#page/n0/mode/1up
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From the Daily Colonist of June 26, 1917. Image taken from web address of https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist59y170uvic#page/n0/mode/1up
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 311 of the First World War Book of Remembrance.
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ECOIVRES MILITARY CEMETERY Pas de Calais, France
Mont St Eloi is a village in the Department of the Pas-de-Calais, 8 kilometres north-west of Arras. The village stands on high ground overlooking the battlefields of Vimy and Souchez and the main Bethune-Arras road, and the ruined towers that rise from it were used as an observation post during the French attacks at Neuville-St Vaast and Givenchy in May 1915.
Ecoivres is a hamlet lying at the foot of the hill, to the south-west and about 1.5 kilometres from Mont St Eloi on the Arras-St Pol line. The ECOIVRES MILITARY CEMETERY is on the D49 road.
For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
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