BBC Newsline

He is mentioned by name, along with a list of his comrades, in the “Song of the 19th RIR Cadets”, which is a light-hearted parody of the Percy French song, “The Mountains of Mourne”. A copy of the RIR version was donated the Royal Ulster Rifles museum in Belfast a few years ago, by a local woman who found it among the personal papers of a deceased relative.

The lyrics give an insight into the everyday lives of the young cadets who were billeted to the County Down town during the First World War. Despite the welcome distractions of football, flirting and invitations to tea with the locals, the final verse is a bittersweet prophecy of the dangers that lay ahead. 

“And when their time comes, they will give of their best,
And fight and, if needs be, will die with a jest,
But green will be treasured their sweet memorie,
Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea.”

It is all the more prophetic when you remember that Robert’s headstone somehow ended up in a river just yards from Annalong harbour, where, quiet literally, the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea.

In total, 43 soldiers are namechecked in the song, you can read the full text here:

By the way, we think “Gilmore”, who is mentioned in the same line of the song as Robert, was 2nd Lieutenant Alexander William Francis Gilmore. Although the author teased that the three “could do nothing but talk” Gilmore was later awarded the Military Cross. He died at the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917, aged just 19.