Angus, Robert
Lance Corporal
No. 20885, 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers
Killed in action on Sunday 9 July 1916 (aged 22)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Thiepval Memorial, France (Pier and Face 3 C)
Donaghadee and District War Memorial
Bangor and District War Memorial
Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque
Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum
Shore Street Presbyterian Church Donaghadee
Trinity Presbyterian Church Bangor
Angus family grave headstone in Bangor Cemetery, Newtownards Road
Brother of Private James Angus (No. 75229)
Brother of Rifleman John Blair Angus (No. 17155)
BIOGRAPHY
Robert Angus was born on 6 September 1893 in the townland of Cottown, Donaghadee and he was the second son of Alexander and Mary Angus (nee Murphy) who were married on 26 February 1885 in Shore Street Presbyterian Church Donaghadee. Alexander Angus from Cottown was a son of Robert Angus, a labourer. Mary Murphy, a servant from Cottown was a daughter of William Murphy, a labourer.
Robert Angus lived in the townland of Cottown, Donaghadee with his parents and his grandparents, Robert and Ellen Angus, and, after the outbreak of the First World War, the Angus family moved to 20 Albert Street, Bangor.
Alexander Angus worked as an agricultural labourer and he and Mary had nine children, eight of whom were baptised in Shore Street Presbyterian Church Donaghadee:
Mary Ellen (born 18 November 1885 in Cottown)
James (born 16 July 1887 in Cottown)
Agnes Campbell (born 28 July 1889 in Cottown)
Rose (born 22 February 1892 in Cottown)
Robert (born 6 September 1893 in Cottown)
John Blair (born 10 July 1896 in Cottown)
Emily (born 10 August 1900 in Cottown)
Jane Neill Campbell (born 9 August 1903 in Cottown)
Sarah Ann (born 15 May 1905 in Cottown)
Like his father Alexander and his grandfather Robert, Robert Angus worked as an agricultural labourer. Robert moved to Scotland, he enlisted in Irvine, Ayrshire and he served with the 2nd Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers.
Lance Corporal Robert Angus (No. 20885) was 22 when he was killed in action on 9 July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme and his parents placed a notice in the County Down Spectator. It contained the verse:
It was hard to lose you, Robert dear,
But God, Who knoweth best,
Held wide His loving arms and said,
“Come unto Me and rest”.
Robert Angus was the second of the three Angus brothers to be killed in action although his was the first of the three deaths to be confirmed.
James Angus was the third of the three Angus brothers to be killed in action although his was the second of the three deaths to be confirmed.
Blair Angus was the first of the three Angus brothers to be killed in action although his was the last of the three deaths to be confirmed.
The three brothers died within a three-month period and their mother Mary died of pneumonia at 20 Albert Street, Bangor on 31 March 1920 (aged 56).
Lance Corporal Robert Angus (No. 20885) has no known grave and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in France; on Donaghadee and District War Memorial; on Bangor and District War Memorial; on the Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque; in the Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum; in Shore Street Presbyterian Church Donaghadee; in Trinity Presbyterian Church Bangor and on the Angus family grave headstone in Bangor Cemetery, Newtownards Road.