Beattie, Robert (Bobbie)
Pioneer
No. 338725, 22nd Company, Royal Engineers
Private
No. 18179 11th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles
Died of a brain haemorrhage on Monday 8 September 1919 (aged 26)
Buried:
Bangor Cemetery, Newtownards Road, Bangor, Co Down (Grave 1D. 5)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Family grave headstone, Bangor Cemetery
BIOGRAPHY
In some records his surname is spelt Beatty.
Robert Beattie was born around 1893 in Maryport (then in Cumberland, now Cumbria) and he was a son of John and Ellen Beattie (nee Agnew), both of whom were born in County Down, and who were married on 2 February 1876 in Newtownards Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Mark’s). John Beattie from Ballymaconnell, Bangor was a son of Hugh Beattie, a labourer. Ellen Agnew from Ballymaconnell, Bangor was a daughter of Robert Agnew, a blacksmith.
John Beattie worked as a labourer and, after he and Ellen Agnew were married, they moved to Maryport
The Beattie family lived at 5 Paper Mill Green and John worked in the local ironworks. John and Ellen Beattie had seven children:
William John (born around 1877 in Maryport; worked as a fruiterer; died by drowning, body washed ashore at Ballymacormick Point)
Ellen Jane (born around 1879 in Maryport; mother of Alexander Beattie, born 3 June 1900 in Ballymaconnell, Bangor)
Hugh (born 30 March 1881 in Ballymaconnell, Bangor)
Agnes (born around 1884 in Maryport)
Annie (born around 1887 in Maryport)
Margaret (Maggie born around 1890 in Maryport)
Robert (born around 1893 in Maryport)
When the Beattie family moved to Bangor, they lived at 19 Bingham Street and in 1911 Robert Beattie described himself as an unemployed greengrocer.
During the First World War Robert Beattie served with the 11th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (No. 18179) and he went to France on 3 October 1915.
He was later transferred to the Royal Engineers and his medal index card shows that he was awarded the 15 Star along with the War and Victory medals.
According to his death certificate, Robert Beattie from 19 Bingham Street, Bangor died in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast on 9 September 1919 (in the CWGC Debt of Honour and on his headstone his date of death is recorded as 8 September 1919).
The cause of death was a haemorrhage on the brain and an inquest was held.
The jury found no evidence as to what had caused the haemorrhage.
A young man from Bangor was charged with manslaughter but acquitted. Robert Beattie was buried in Bangor Cemetery and his parents placed an inscription on his headstone:
Erected by
John & Ellen Beattie
In memory of their beloved son
Bobbie
Who died 8th September 1919
Aged 26 years
‘Gone but not forgotten.
I am the Resurrection and the life,
He that believeth in Me, though he were dead,
Yet shall he live’.
His father, John Beattie, died on 11 August 1926 (aged 69) and his mother, Ellen Beattie, died on 8 October 1930 (aged 75).