Stone, Robert
Rifleman
No. 18/2, ‘B’ Company, 13th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action on Saturday 1 July 1916 (aged 20)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Thiepval Memorial, France (Pier and Face 15 A and 15 B)
Bangor and District War Memorial
Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque
Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum
Conlig Presbyterian Church
BIOGRAPHY
Robert Stone was born on 15 February 1896 in Balloo, Bangor and he was a son of William and Sarah Jane Stone (nee Norwood) who were married on 11 July 1895 in Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church. William Stone from Newtownards was a son of William Stone, a ship’s carpenter. Sarah Jane Norwood from Balloo was a daughter of Samuel Norwood, a labourer.
The Stone family lived in the townland of Bangor Bog, Crawfordsburn.
William Stone worked as a blacksmith and he and Sarah Jane had four children:
Robert (born 15 February 1896 in Balloo)
Unnamed female child (born 7 March 1898 in Conlig; died of congenital debility 4 April 1898)
William (born 22 February 1901 in Conlig)
Samuel (born 4 September 1903 in Conlig; delicate from birth, died 9 September 1903)
Their mother Sarah Jane died on 5 September 1903 (aged 29) following childbirth
Their father William married Mary Eleanor (Ellen) Smyth (sometimes Smith) on 15 January 1904 in Newtownards Registrar’s Office. Mary Eleanor Smyth from Conlig was a daughter of Robert Smyth, a labourer.
The Stone family lived in Frederick Street, Newtownards and in Conlig.
William and Mary Eleanor Stone had four children:
John (born 12 January 1905 in Frederick Street, Newtownards; died of debility 12 February 1905)
Henry (born 28 October 1906 in Conlig)
Mary (born 3 July 1909 in Conlig; delicate from birth, died 7 July 1909)
James Alexander (born 25 October 1911 in Conlig)
Robert Stone enlisted in Belfast, he served with the 13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in 108th Brigade of the 36th (Ulster) Division and he was 20 when he was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
Robert’s stepmother, Mary Ellen Stone, died on 9 May 1946 (aged 60) and she was buried in Bangor Cemetery, Newtownards Road, Bangor.
In the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Debt of Honour Website it is recorded that Robert Stone was a grandson of Jane Duncan who lived at 57 James Street, Newtownards.
Jane Duncan (nee Dixon, sometimes Dickson) was Robert Stone’s paternal grandmother (William Stone’s mother) and she and Robert Duncan (a rose grower) were married on 29 July 1880 in St Anne’s Church of Ireland Church Belfast.
Robert and Jane Duncan had seven daughters including Minnie, Anne, Jane, Clara, Gertrude and Margaret.
Robert Stone’s father, William Stone (originally Stones, son of William Stones), was born on 27 December 1875 in the townland of Ballymacnamee, Portaferry.
Rifleman Robert Stone (No. 18/2) has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in France; 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 and in Conlig Presbyterian Church.