Patterson, Robert James (Robert)
Private
9th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Died of disease on Wednesday 2 June 1915 (aged 42)
Buried:
Holywood Priory Cemetery (Grave Additional 168)
BIOGRAPHY
In civil death registration records it is recorded that Private Robert James Patterson, who had been stationed at Ballykinlar, died as the result of a cerebral haemorrhage on 2 June 1915 in the Military Hospital, Donegall Road, Belfast. Described as a saddler and a Private in the 9th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles, his wife Mary was with him when he died. Mary’s address at that time was 5 Alaska Street, Belfast. Army pension papers record that Private Patterson had been discharged from the Army on 17 May 1915.
Robert James Patterson was born on 2 November 1872 at 9 Cussick Street, Belfast and he was a son of George and Sarah Ann Patterson (nee Stewart) who were married on 11 September 1870 in Shankill Parish Church of Ireland Church Belfast. George Patterson (aged 24), a saddler from Belfast, was a son of Robert Patterson, a gardener. Sarah Stewart (aged 21), a weaver from Belfast, was a daughter of Hugh Stewart, a gardener.
George and Sarah Patterson (nee Stewart) had at least ten children:
Sarah Ann (born 7 October 1870 at 9 Cussick Street, Belfast; died of peritonitis 18 February 1893 at High Street, Holywood)
Robert James (born 2 November 1872 at 9 Cussick Street, Belfast)
Ellen (born 5 September 1874 in High Street, Holywood)
George (born 21 November 1875 in High Street, Holywood)
William (born 2 April 1878 in High Street, Holywood)
Agnes Jane (born 19 June 1880 in High Street, Holywood)
Mary Elizabeth (born 2 May 1882 in High Street, Holywood; died of cardiac disease 19 February 1906 at 90 High Street, Holywood; her brother Robert who lived in Trevor Street, Holywood was with her when she died)
Margaret (Maggie, born 21 January 1884 in High Street, Holywood; married Charles Edward South)
Hugh Henry (Harry, born 6 March 1889 in High Street, Holywood; died 25 November 1910 in Winnipeg, Canada; interred 26 May 1911 in Elmwood Cemetery Grave 3-G0303)
Adam (born around 1893/1894)
Their father, George Patterson, died of acute pneumonia and cardiac failure on 17 March 1903 in High Street, Holywood. Their mother, Sarah Ann Patterson, died as the result of a cerebral haemorrhage on 10 August 1907 at 83 High Street, Holywood.
Robert James Patterson and Mary Sloan were married on 6 October 1898 in Ballymacarratt Presbyterian Church, Belfast. Robert James Patterson, a working man from Holywood, was a son of George Patterson, a saddler. Mary Sloan, a servant from Holywood, was a daughter of John Sloan, a farmer.
Robert James and Mary Patterson (nee Sloan) had at least seven children:
Clara Mulligan (born 21 January 1901 at 47 Trevor Street, Holywood)
Joseph Alexander (born 19 August 1902 in Meeting Street, Warrenpoint)
George Morrow (born 17 April 1904 in Trevor Street, Holywood)
Margaret Jane (born 19 January 1906 in Trevor Street, Holywood)
Sarah Ann Stewart (born 5 February 1908 in High Street, Holywood)
Annie Rebecca (born 1 January 1910 in High Street, Holywood)
Mary Elizabeth (born 19 November 1911 at 3 Klondyke Street, Belfast)
During the Great War Robert James Patterson served with the 9th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles and was stationed at Ballykinlar prior to being discharged from the Army on 17 May 1915. Robert James Patterson was admitted to the Military Hospital, Donegall Road, Belfast, and he died there on 2 June 1915.
Robert James Patterson was buried in Holywood Priory Cemetery (Grave Additional 168), but his name is not inscribed on the headstone:
ERECTED
BY
GEORGE PATTERSON
IN MEMORY OF HIS BELOVED
DAUGHTER SARAH ANN WHO DIED
18TH FEBRUARY 1893 AGED 22 YEARS
ALSO JOHN AND ELLEN WHO DIED IN INFANCY
AND IS INTERRED IN BALMORAL
THE ABOVE GEORGE PATTERSON,
DIED 17TH MARCH 1903 AGED 57 YEARS
ALSO MARY ELIZABETH FOURTH DAUGHTER
OF THE ABOVE IN HER 24TH YEAR WHO DEPARTED
THIS LIFE 19TH FEBRUARY 1906
ALSO SARAH ANN BELOVED WIFE
OF THE ABOVE WHO FELL ASLEEP
10TH AUGUST 1907 AGED 58 YEARS
ALSO HUGH HENRY (HARRY) 5TH SON
OF THE ABOVE WHO ENTERED INTO REST ON
THE 25TH NOVEMBER 1910 AT WINNIPEG,
AND WAS INTERRED IN ELMWOOD CEMETERY
AGE 22 YEARS
“ROCK OF AGES CLEFT FOR ME
LET ME HIDE MYSELF IN THEE”