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Fullname: Robert Downie
aka: Sgt Robert Downie VC, MM (Victoria Cross, Military Medal)
Born: 12 Jan 1894
Died: 18 April 1968
Birthplace: Glasgow
Biog
Forces
SGT Robert Downie VC MM was born on the 12th of January 1894 to Irish parents from Laurencetown, County Down. One of sixteen children he was educated at St. Aloysius Catholic, Springburn, Glasgow. He joined the army at 19 and was a regular with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers at the start of the first world war. He was awarded a Military Medal, and then a Victoria Cross (the highest honour).
He was a sergeant in the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Dublin Fusiliers, British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place during the Battle of the Somme, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross for exceptional bravery.
On 23 October 1916 east of Lesboeufs, France, when most of the officers had become casualties, Sergeant Downie, utterly regardless of personal danger and under very heavy fire, organised the attack which had been temporarily checked. At the critical moment he rushed forward shouting “Come on the Dubs!” which had an immediate response and the line rushed forward at this call. Sergeant Downie accounted for several of the enemy and in addition captured a machine-gun, killing the team. Although wounded early in the fight, he remained with his company, giving valuable assistance while the position was being consolidated.
On his homecoming, he arrived at Glasgow Central Station to be met by hundreds of people who carried him shoulder-high to a taxi. Springburn Road was decorated with flags and bunting and lined with hundreds more people, and his achievement was widely reported in the Glasgow press.
Post-War
He lived quietly in Carleston Street, Springburn, until his death in 1968. A modest man, he often played down his bravery, saying he won the medals for having ‘shot the cook’.
A Celtic fan through and through, football fans at Celtic Park regularly saw him on a Saturday as he worked as a cashier at the turnstiles.
Downie passed away in 1968, and has a grave/memorial at St. Kentigern’s Cemetery, Glasgow, Scotland (Section 21, Lair 506, with headstone).
His Victoria Cross medal remains with the family who still have the medal.
In 2016, he was honoured with a remembrance stone at the People’s Palace, a highly deserved honour.
A very notable Celtic supporter of whom we should all be very proud to be able to number as one of our own.
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Articles
Painting of Robert Downie held at Celtic Park
This is a photo of an oil painting held in the Celtic store. It once hung in Willie Maley’s office along side one of Willie Angus V C
Scottish Somme hero is to be honoured 100 years on
A HERO soldier awarded with the Victoria Cross for his bravery will be commemorated at a memorial service exactly 100 years since he saved the lives of his comrades.
By Paula Murray
PUBLISHED: 00:01, Sun, Oct 23, 2016
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/724169/Scottish-Somme-war-hero
Sergeant Robert Downie won the Victoria Cross for his bravery during the Somme battle
Scottish Sergeant Robert Downie displayed extreme courage as he rallied the men of the 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers against a German machine gun crew under a heavy fire.
He had witnessed heavy losses after the enemy launched a counter attack following the successful capture of several German gun-pits in the village of Lesboeufs on the night of October 23, 1916.
With every officer down, instead of withdrawing from the clash, which marked the 115th day of the First Battle of Somme, the 22-year-old reorganised the regiment and stirred them into action.
He killed several enemy soldiers during the charge finally taking the machine-gun that had killed and injured dozens from his battalion.
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The citation for his award read: “For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in attack. When most of the officers had become casualties this non-commissioned officer, utterly regardless of personal danger moved about under heavy fire and reorganised the attack, which had been temporarily checked.
“At the critical moment, he rushed forward alone shouting, ‘Come on the Dubs’. This stirring appeal met with immediate response and the line rushed forward at his call.”
The life of the heroic soldier, from Springburn, Glasgow, will be marked today with a WW1 centenary paving stone, which will be unveiled outside the People’s Palace in the city.
His granddaughter, 72-year-old Helena Casserly, of Skelmorlie, Ayrshire, 84-year-old niece Amy Birnie, from Dunbartonshire and great nieces Anne Marie McGuire, of Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, and Pamela Slavin, who has travelled for the event from Canada, will be present at the ceremony.
Sergeant Robert Downie wins the Victoria CrossEX
Sgt Downie displayed extreme courage as conducted the 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers
Speaking ahead of the unveiling, Ms Casserly said: “I am extremely proud of my grandfather. He was a very private man and It is wonderful to be able to remember his bravery today.”
I am extremely proud of my grandfather
Helena Casserly
Sgt Downie, whose father was Irish, enlisted with the battalion as a teenager in January 1912.
He was one of five in his family to sever at the Great War and was posted to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force in August 1914.
Before receiving the highest gallantry award, the Scot had already endured a gas attack which earned him the Military Medal.
However, he never spoke about the bloody night to his family and only referred to it once in an interview saying: “Every man in the regiment won the VC that night.”
Somme battle memorial in FranceGETTY
British soldiers during the Somme battleGETTY
He was one of five in his family to sever at the Great War
King George V presented him with the medal in Sandringham just days after he had returned home to jubilant Hogmanay celebrations.
Glasgow’s Lord Provost Sadie Docherty said: “Sergeant Robert Downie is far more than a local hero. He ranks among the very few men in the Great War who survived while carrying out the ultimate act of valour, risking his life to save the lives of his comrades.”
The VC paving stones are funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government and yesterday Communities Minister Lord Bourne said: “The ceremony is a fitting tribute to his exceptional bravery.
“Britain’s First World War heroes remain as inspirational now as they were a century ago. We owe them a great debt of gratitude.”
After the war he became a groundsman and turnstile cashier at Celtic Football Club. He died in 1968.
VC Biog 3 Downie, Robert, VC, Royal Dublin Fusiliers 671 words
https://www.firstworldwarglasgow.co.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=25688&p=0
Morag Cross 6 Feb 2014
***VC3.1
Sergeant Robert Downie, of the 2nd
Battalion, The Royal Dublin Fusiliers, was born in Springburn, Glasgow in 1894, one of thirteen (out of 15) surviving children of an Irish father and Dundee-born mother. Like two brothers and his father, he worked in Hydepark Locomotive Works, Springburn
.
Possibly inspired by his eldest brother, a sergeant in The Royal Scots Fusiliers, Downie joined the army in 1912, aged 18. [Sources: Statutory Deaths (Service Returns), and Census 1911, atwww.scotlandspeople.gov.uk; O’Moore Creagh and E M Humphries, 1924, The VC and DSO: A Complete Record, London, Vol 1, p227; Glasgow Herald, 28 Nov 1916, p7].
***VC3.2a and b use both
Early in 1914, Downie married Ivy Sparkes in Kent, and was sent to France with his regiment when war broke out in August. The Fusiliers fought at Aisne, Messines and Ypres, enduring hard fighting on the Western Front from the outset, and Downie suffered the effects of a gas-attack. He had already received the Military Medal for bravery, when he such showed outstanding courage on 23 October 1916, the 115th day of the First Battle of the Somme. Gen Haig’s report on
advances round Les Boeufs and Morval: ‘Constant rain turned a mass of hastily dug trenches … into channels of deep mud … roads broken by countless shell-craters … became almost impassable’. This meant no further supplies of ammunition reached the exhausted troops, and it became ‘an easier matter to take a battered trench than to hold it’. [Sources: London Gazette, Issue 29884, Supplement, 29 Dec 1917, p12729; O’Moore Creagh and E M Humphries, 1924, The VC and DSO: A Complete Record, London, Vol 1, p227].
***VC3.3
The 4th Division, including the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, suffered frequent German counter-attacks; on the 23rd, the Fusiliers were in action around Combles, ‘a bloody encounter, so much so that Sgt. Downie never spoke about the day to anyone again, not even his own family.’ The objective was a fortified, strategically-important German machinegun position east of Lesboeufs called ‘Gun Pits’, which had resisted capture, and after the 2nd Battalion went ‘over the top’ at 2.30pm, they were machine-gunned at close range, and some crawled back to safety. [Sources: ‘1st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers in France’, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, A Forgotten Regiment, at www.dublin-fusiliers.com
;
‘The Royal Dublin Fusiliers’, The Long, Long Trail: The British Army … 1914-1918, at www.1914-1918.net].
***VC3.4
One of Downie’s officers, Lt Col R G B Jeffreys, described the fighting of the 23rd October
: ‘We had one big battle … and simply went for the Hun … the [Fusiliers] saw ‘red’ all the time and got at him with the bayonet. The German fought like a beast at bay … actual hand to hand fighting … Considering the carnage that ensued, we got … light casualties.’ In this tactical emergency, Jeffreys explained ‘The dead Hun was appalling. I gave orders that no prisoners were to be taken … in case of a counter attack and it takes too many men away to send escorts to the rear with them … so you can imagine what happened with the bayonet’. [Source: ‘Lt Col R G B Jeffreys: Letters’, Online Museum, Royal Dublin Fusiliers Website, at www.royaldublinfusiliers.com].
***VC3.5
After his officers had been killed, Downie rallied the troops, ‘under heavy fire … At the critical moment he rushed forward alone, shouting ‘Come on, the Dubs’… the line rushed forward at his call. Serjeant Downie accounted for several [Germans and] captured a machine gun, killing the team.’ He was wounded, but the position was taken, albeit at appalling cost: three officers and 14 men killed, five officers and 124 men wounded, and 36 missing. [Sources: London Gazette, Issue 29836, Supplement to 24 Nov, Published on 25 Nov 1916, p11526; ‘1st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers in France’, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, A Forgotten Regiment, at www.dublin-fusiliers.com].
***VC3.6 a or b, and use c also
Downie, a keen amateur boxer, had joked to his wife (a munitions factory inspector during the war) that ͚I͛ll fetĐh LJou something worth looking at͛. ͚I said͛, Mrs DoǁŶie reŵarked, ͚That ǁill ďe a GerŵaŶ helŵet͛. DoǁŶie also told his forŵer sĐhoolteaĐher, aŶd seǀeral frieŶds, ͚Nedžt tiŵe I see LJou, I͛ll ďriŶg a VC͛. However, he afterwards told the press ‘Every man in the regiment won the VC that day’. [Sources: O’Moore Creagh and E M Humphries, 1924, The VC and DSO: A Complete Record London, Vol 1, p227; Evening Telegraph, 28 Nov 1916, p3; Glasgow Herald, 28 Nov 1916, p7].
***VC3.7
At Downie’s rapturous homecoming on 31 December 1916, ‘many rows of streamers … includ[ing
]
all the flags of the allies’ decorated Carleston Street, Springburn. From that single street, ‘over 200 [residents] have joined the army, sixteen have been killed’ and five lost limbs. Downie was presented to the City Council, attended a reception in Springburn Public Halls, and was feted by St Aloyisius Church and School and local dignitaries. [Sources: O’Moore Creagh and E M Humphries, 1924,
The VC and DSO: A Complete Record, London, Vol 1, p227; Glasgow Herald, 1 Jan 1917, p9;Jan 5 1917, p8].
***VC3.8 a and b use both
Two of the five Downie sons in the armed forces were killed. Sergeant David Downie, The Royal Scots Fusiliers, and Private Richard Downie, The Seaforth Highlanders, who both welcomed him home after winning the VC, died in France in 1917. [Source: ‘Casualty Details: D Downie, No 7674’, and ‘R Downie, No 204408’, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, at www.cwgc.org;
Glasgow Herald, 1 Jan 1917, p9; Glasgow Herald, 28 Nov 1916, p7].
***VC3.9 a and b if b is needed
After the war, Robert Downie VC became a groundsman and turnstile cashier at Celtic Football Club
.
He died in 1968, and is buried in St Kentigern’s Cemetery, Glasgow. [Sources: ‘Supporters: Robert Downie’,
The Celtic Wiki… Celtic Football Club, at www.thecelticwiki.com; ‘Sergeant Robert Downie’, Medals: Victoria Cross, Royal Dublin Fusiliers Website, at www.royaldublinfusiliers.com; : ‘1st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers in France’, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, A Forgotten Regiment, at www.dublin-fusiliers.com]. ***VC3.10 one at least of a-e
Their names will be remembered for evermore
https://www.firstworldwarglasgow.co.uk/index.aspx?articleid=11514
It had been a desperate day. Gun Pits, a well-fortified German machine gun post east of Les Boeufs, had hammered at soldiers of the 4th division including the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. With his officers and comrades cut down around him, Glasgow-born Sergeant Robert Downie issued a battle cry “Come on, the Dubs” and charged against the murderous guns.Downie, one of 13 children of an Irish father and Dundee-born mother, had worked alongside his father and two brothers in the Hydepark Locomotive Works in Springburn until his 18th birthday, when he joined the Irish regiment of the British army in 1912. When war broke out Downie, already married, was sent to France with his regiment and saw heavy fighting from the start of the campaign on the Western Front. He had already suffered in a gas attack and had been awarded the Military Medal when he showed the outstanding courage that earned him the VC on 23 October, 1916, the 115th day of the First Battle of the Somme.Hundreds Cut DownHours of bloody hand-to-hand fighting for the strategically important position had left the Irish troops exhausted and severely depleted: five officers and 124 men were wounded and 36 were missing. The fusiliers went over the top at 2.30pm, but hundreds were cut down at close range. Survivors crawled back through the mud to their dug-outs.Orders were given to take no German prisoners and bayonets were fixed. Again and again, the Germans defended their line. One officer described them as “beasts at bay” counter-attacking and pinning the Dublin Fusiliers into hastily dug mud-filled trenches. Battle Cry Rallies MenWith the last officer dead, Downie took command. He rallied the troops under heavy fire and rushed forward alone, issuing his battle cry. Inspired, the exhausted men joined the charge. Downie killed several Germans and took the machine gun, killing the team which had inflicted so much suffering on his comrades. Alongside the wounded and missing, the Gun Pits crew had claimed the lives of three officers and 14 men. Downie was wounded, but the gun position was finally taken. It was a day so bloody that Downie never spoke of it to anyone again, not even in his own family.A professional soldier, Downie had once joked with friends about bringing home the VC. After he was awarded the honour, he told the press: “Every man in the regiment won the VC that day”.Downie arrived home to Carleston Street, Springburn on Hogmanay 1916. From that one street, over 200 had joined the army. Sixteen had been killed and five had lost limbs. He was presented to the City Council and attended a public reception at Springburn Public Halls. He was feted by St Aloysius Church and School, and local dignitaries. Two of Downie’s brothers, David and Richard, who had welcomed him home, died in France in 1917. After the war Robert Downie VC became a groundsman and turnstile cashier at Celtic Football Club. He died in 1968 and is buried in St Kentigern’s Cemetery, Glasgow.Robert Downie’s citation in The London GazetteView original referenced text here: 
- Robert Downie VC. Cigarette card photo, private collection.
- The action that earned Downie the VC, as recreated by artist Alfred Pearse (1855-1933) in a painting commissioned for the book, Deeds that Thrill the Empire, in 1917. Credit: Hutchison & Co, (Publishers), 1917, Deeds that Thrill the Empire, Vol 2, p831.
- Robert Downie in a gallery of VC heroes published in mass-circulation popular weekly, The War Illustrated. Credit: The War Illustrated, Vol 10, p3556.
