Ferguson, Robert (served as Ferguson, Albert)
Private
No. 412729, 18th Battalion, Canadian Infantry (Western Ontario Regiment)
Died on Tuesday 6 June 1916 (aged 31)
Buried:
Bedford House Cemetery, Belgium (Enclosure No. 4 1. M. 7)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Canadian Virtual War Memorial (CVWM)
Canadian First World War Book of Remembrance
Bangor and District War Memorial
Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque
Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum
Family grave headstone in Bangor Abbey Graveyard
BIOGRAPHY
Robert Ferguson was born on 5 May 1885 in Quay Place, Bangor and he was a son of Matthew and Annie Ferguson (nee Kane, sometimes McKane, sometimes McKeane) who lived in Main Street, Bangor and Quay Place, Bangor.
Matthew Ferguson and Annie Kane were married on 21 December 1876 in Troon, Ayrshire, Scotland after Banns according to the Forms of the Established Church of Scotland. Matthew Ferguson (aged 27) from Bangor was a son of Thomas and Annie Ferguson (nee McCartney). Annie Kane (aged 21) was from Back Temple Hill, Troon.
Matthew Ferguson was a master mariner and he and Annie had four children:
William (born 22 February 1878 in Quay Place, Bangor)
Margaret (Maggie, born 30 April 1880 in Main Street, Bangor; died of enteritis 22 November 1881 aged 19 months)
Annie McCartney (born 22 March 1883 in Main Street, Bangor; died of croup 15 October 1886 aged three years)
Robert (born 5 May 1885 in Quay Place, Bangor)
Annie Ferguson (nee Kane) died on 27 May 1885 (aged 28) – 22 days after childbirth.
Matthew Ferguson and Elizabeth Coey were married on 7 October 1887 in Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church. Matthew Ferguson, a full-age widower from Bangor was a master mariner and a son of Thomas Ferguson, a seafarer. Elizabeth Coey, a full-age spinster from Bangor was a daughter of William Coey, a seafarer.
Matthew and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Ferguson (nee Coey) lived in Gray’s Hill, Bangor; Main Street, Bangor; Duncairn Gardens, Belfast and 50 Groomsport Road, Bangor and they had three children:
Joseph (born 4 September 1888 in Gray’s Hill, Bangor)
Isobel (born 14 March 1890 in Main Street, Bangor)
Ellen Harrison (Nellie, born 12 August 1893 in Main Street, Bangor)
Matthew Ferguson’s brother Joseph was lost at sea on 25 December 1895 (aged 44).
Robert Ferguson moved to Canada where he was an ironworker before he enlisted on 23 February 1915 at Lindsay, Ontario. On his attestation papers, he signed his name Albert Ferguson and it was noted that he was 5 feet 9 inches tall with a fair complexion, blue eyes and dark brown hair. He had a scar on the palm of his left hand. In the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Debt of Honour Website his forename is also recorded as Albert.
Private Robert (served as Albert) Ferguson (No. 412729) was 31 when he died on 6 June 1916 and he was buried in Bedford House Cemetery, Belgium.
Private Robert (served as Albert) Ferguson is commemorated 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 (Page 66) and on the family grave headstone in Bangor Abbey Graveyard.
His father, Matthew Ferguson, died on 5 November 1932 (aged 83) and his stepmother Elizabeth died on 26 March 1938 (aged 77).