Pere Posted 12 August , 2009 Share Posted 12 August , 2009 Johnston Robert, 6359, Lance-Corporal, 1st Royal Irish Rifles, and Johnston Robert, 6728, Rfm., 1st Royal Irish Rifles were both KIA on 9th May 1915. Two Johnstons Roberts are listed on the town's memorial, one as senior the other as junior. Are they father and son/brother? Both were born in Newtownards, County Down. Pere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGL Posted 12 August , 2009 Share Posted 12 August , 2009 There's two Robert Johnstons listed in the 1911 Census of Ireland. Both live in Mill Street Newtownards but at different houses. I think it unlikely that they were father/son, although they might have been cousins or uncle/nephew. Alternatively, Johnston (or it's variants) is not uncommon and neither is the name Robert. Given this, it's entirely possible that neither of these two related at all and it's just a coincidence that they had the same name and were killed on the same day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pere Posted 12 August , 2009 Author Share Posted 12 August , 2009 Thanks PGL. It is the mention on the memorial of Johnston (Sen.) (Mill Street) and Johnston (Jun.) (Mill Street), which I assume means Robert senior and Robert junior, that made me consider the possibility of a close family relationship. Pere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGL Posted 12 August , 2009 Share Posted 12 August , 2009 Obviously Pere I can't be 100% sure but given that the two men didn't live at the same address (although they lived in the same street), I would tend to rule out the father/son relationship and go for uncle/nephew or cousins instead. For no other reason than a hunch, I would be more inclined to say cousins. Since both men served in the 1st Royal Irish Rifles, some way to distinguish them was required so one cousin was "Senior" and the other was "Junior". Here are links to the Census: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/page..._Street/269675/ http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/page..._Street/269647/ Hope it's useful. [Edit for spelling.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGL Posted 12 August , 2009 Share Posted 12 August , 2009 Just noticied your signature line. Is that your web-site? If so, many, many thanks - you list the Memorial my Grandfather's name is on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pere Posted 13 August , 2009 Author Share Posted 13 August , 2009 PGL Yes that’s my web site. I’ve still a few ‘public’ memorials, e.g. Limavady, Ballymoney, to add then it’s onto ‘private’ memorials. At the moment I’m attempting to link families listed on the Ards memorial. It’s very slow progress. Pere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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