Robert was educated at Bedford Modern School; at St. John's College, Cambridge; and at the London Hospital. At school he was a cricketer and a runner. At Cambridge he got his half-blue for cross-country in 1902. After qualifying M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., he was H.S. at the County Hospital, Newport (Mon), then later he took the D.P.H. Cambridge, and the D.T.M. and H. Cambridge, and developed a passion for research in Tropical Diseases. For a short time after these exams, he was Medical Officer to Rossall School, but then went abroad to the Malay States as Medical Officer to the Kuala Lumpur Rubber Company. He worked there on the problems which malaria gives rise to, visiting Sumatra and other Dutch colonies in search of knowledge. The results of his investigations were just ready for publication when war broke out. As soon as he could he arranged to get back to the UK and the R.A.M.C., of which he had been a Special Reserve Officer before he went East. He arrived in England in December 1914 and was sent to Salisbury Plain, whilst waiting to go to France. Whilst he was waiting, he filled in his time by doing some work on cerebro-spinal meningitis, having an idea that it might possibly be spread to some extent by horses. To verify his suppositions he did a number of P.M's. on horses. He contracted the disease in January 1915, and after a long struggle finally succumbed to the disease. Robert was the son of the Rev J E Linnell, Vicar of Pavenham, Bedford.