Fitzsimons, Robert
Lance Corporal
No. 6581, 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action on Tuesday 17 October 1916 (aged 40)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Thiepval Memorial, France (Pier and Face 15 A and 15 B)
Killinchy Parish Church of Ireland Church
Journey of Remembering Belfast Book of Honour
BIOGRAPHY
Robert Fitzsimons was born on 27 November 1875 at 31 Kearney’s Buildings, Belfast and he was a son of Henry Seymour Fitzsimons and Rosanna Geddis Fitzsimons (nee McFerran) who were married on 7 October 1863 in York Street Presbyterian Church Belfast.
The Fitzsimons family lived at 31 Tower Street, Pottinger, Belfast.
Henry Fitzsimons worked as a carpenter and he and Rosanna had at least eleven children including:
Hiram (born 17 May 1866 at 24 Princes Street, Belfast; died 1867)
Hiram (born 4 September 1869; died 1873)
John Marshall (born 15 December 1871 at 39 Thorndyke Street, Belfast)
Henry Seymour (born 29 October 1873 at 2 Rotterdam Street, Belfast)
Robert (born 27 November 1875 at 31 Kearney’s Buildings, Belfast)
Agnes (born 13 October 1881 at 107 Newtownards Road, Belfast)
Rosanna (born around 1885/1886 in England)
Henry Fitzsimons died on 21 November 1904 in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast (aged 62). He suffered a fractured skull after falling down stairs accidentally.
Robert Fitzsimons worked as a farm labourer and he and Harriette Morrison were married on 28 August 1908 in Killinchy Parish Church of Ireland Church. Both lived in the townland of Ballymorran and Harriette was a daughter of Robert Morrison, a labourer.
Robert and Harriette Fitzsimons (nee Morrison) had at least four children:
Henry Seymour Fitzsimons (born 9 May 1910 in Ballymorran)
Ursula (born 28 October 1911 in Ballymorran)
Robert Marshall (born 3 March 1913 in Ballymorran)
William McFerran (born 13 April 1914 in Ballymorran)
The Fitzsimons family lived in the townland of Ballymorran, Killinchy along with Harriette’s father, Robert Morrison.
Lance Corporal Robert Fitzsimons (No. 6581) served with the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Rifles and he was 40 when he died on 17 October 1916 during the Battle of Ancre Heights (during the Battle of the Somme). He has no known grave.
Lance Corporal Robert Fitzsimons (No. 6581) is commemorated in Killinchy Parish Church of Ireland Church and in the Belfast Book of Honour (Page 194).