Private Robert Dunwoody
This man appears to be the Robert Dunwoody born on 7 April 1895 at 96 Utility Street, Belfast, the third of four children of labourer Robert Dunwoody and his wife Ellen (née Corr). At the time of the 1911 Census he was living at 114 Moltke Street with his parents and three siblings, and working as an apprentice fitter. The family later moved to 74 Northumberland Street.
Dunwoody enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1914 or the first half of 1915.
On 8 June 1915 he married Alice Wilson in the Church of Ireland Holy Trinity Parish Church, Belfast. The couple had three children over the next three years. The first, however, died at just three years of age, and the third the day after she was born. The second, Robert, died on 25 April 1932 aged just 15.
Dunwoody enlisted in the North Irish Horse at Armagh on 13 December 1917 (No.2757 – Corps of Hussars No.72011). Whether he had been discharged from the RAMC or absconded is not known. He was described as being 5' 8" tall, with a fresh complexion, brown hair and blue eyes. He gave his occupation as a foundry labourer, and his place of birth as St Luke's, Belfast.
Three days later, however, he deserted. It is not known whether he later returned to the North Irish Horse or to the RAMC, but as late as October 1918 he was described as being a soldier.
Dunwoody died due to phthisis (tuberculosis) in the Belfast Mental Hospital on 29 January 1939 at the age of 43. He is buried in the Dundonald Cemetery with his son, his brother David and his sister Sarah.
Dunwoody's brother David also served in the war, in the Labour Corps (No.553937). His brother-in-law, Private James Graham Currie of the Royal Army Medical Corps (No.54553), died in France on 22 August 1917 from wounds received six days earlier at the Battle of Langemarck.
This page last updated 14 January 2024.