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Robert Larmour

Hi there, so i’ve been doing research on my 2x great grandfather Robert Larmour and i found his obituary in the newspaper and i did already know he at one point was a soldier during the boar war as he was a solider on 1901 census and on his obituary it did confirm that and it said he also fought in world war 1 but i can’t seem to find anymore records of him in the war he died in 1969 aged 90 and apparently at the time he was one of the oldest living people in cookstown who had fought in the wars, is anyone able to help me possibly find out more about when he served or like a record of it or something, he was born 29 September 1879 in clarkhill co down and died in cookstown 21 december 1969 i found the obituary in the mid ulster mail newspaper, thanks

lucy s

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I can see from Ancestry military pension records that Robert served with the Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment, and is recorded in the 1st Battalion of the Derbyshires 1899-1902 in South Africa. Service number 6533. I think that Regiment was also known as the Sherwood Foresters.

If his full service record survives (some were lost due to German bombing in WW2) it should be in the National Archives in Kew, London. They won’t be on-line, so you would need to pay NAS or a London based researcher to find them.

Imperial War Museum records might help too. Link here:

https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/searchlives/field/unit/Nottinghamshire%20and%20Derbyshire%20Regiment/filter

In addition to his service record, most regiments kept a diary which explained where each battalion was based, where they served, where they were posted to next and so on. So the Regimental diaries can help too. Of course not everyone served at the same place at the same time. Most regiments kept a number of troops at Regimental HQ for training, admin and as a strategic reserve, so knowing which unit he was with may help determine precisely where he served. Some regimental history here:

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/sherwood-foresters-nottinghamshire-derbyshire-regiment/

And in WW1 with the large losses of life, many units were merged temporarily to maintain a fighting force. That can confuse the records. By 1919 Robert would have been 40 so probably not in a front-line unit by then.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

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