Life History

Notes

• After the accident in 1888 which killed their father, Robert's family sold the family grocery business and the family moved to Sunderland. Robert a carpenter by trade
  emigrated to New Zealand. Robert returned to Britain in July 1914 to enlist. It was his intention to return to New Zealand, after the hostilities where he and his elder brother John hoped to set up in business. Robert - a Sergeant, was hit by "friendly fire"
  on returning from patrol in 1916, subsequently succumbing to the 1919 Influenza outbreak, whilst recovering in Dobson Red Cross Hospital Blackheath. His Mother and immediate family had at this stage moved to Belfast.
  Robert was buried in a plot owned by his relatives, the Emersons, in Hexham Cemetary.