Robert Daniel McCabe was the son of Henry and Jane McCabe. He was born on 22nd January 1888 in Moy, near Dungannon. He was one of thirteen children. Around 1897 they moved to the Lisburn area. His father was a linen beetler. Robert became a linen weaver. He enlisted at Lisburn with the 11th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles. Rifleman McCabe was wounded at the front in September / October 1917. Robert was brought back to hospital in England where he was operated on. He returned home to Lisburn and discharged on 8th October 1917. Rifleman Robert McCabe died at the County Antrim Infirmary in Lisburn on 18th October 1917. He died from the effects of gas poisoning and internal injuries received on active service.
Further Information
Robert Daniel McCabe was the son of Henry and Jane McCabe. Henry McCabe and Jane Greenwood were married on 4th May 1876 in the district of Armagh.
Robert McCabe was born on 22nd January 1888 in Moy, near Dungannon. He was one of thirteen children.
The family lived initially in the Moy- Loughgall area. By 1888 they were living in Dungannon.
Around 1897 they moved to the Lisburn area, presumably because their father worked in the ever diminishing linen industry.
Family: Henry McCabe, Jane McCabe, Thomas McCabe (born 14th May 1877, Loughgall), Henry McCabe (born 20th February 1879, Loughgall), John McCabe (born 19th December 1880, Loughgall), David Thomas McCabe (born 31st August 1882, Loughgall; died 12th April 1899, Lisburn), Joseph McCabe (born 14th July 1884, Loughgall), Lizzie J McCabe (born about 1886), Robert Daniel McCabe (born 22nd January 1888, Dungannon), James McCabe (born 31st May 1889, Dungannon, died 10th January 1891, age 1), Samuel McCabe (born 10th February 1891, Dungannon), Alfred McCabe (born 13th February 1893, Dungannon), Edith McCabe (born 3rd February 1895, Dungannon), Mary ‘Minnie’ McCabe (born 1st January 1897, Dungannon), Ernest McCabe (born 22nd December 1898, Ballyclare, died 28th December 1898).
The 1901 census records Robert McCabe as age 13 living with the family at house 82 in Tullynacross, Drumbeg, County Down. He was still at school. His father was a linen beetler.
Drumbeg and Lambeg lies north east of Lisburn, mid way between Lisburn and Belfast.
The 1911 census lists Robert as age 22 living with the family at house 59 in Tullynacross, Drumbeg, Down. He was working as a linen weaver.
Robert McCabe was living in Lambeg when he enlisted at Lisburn with the 11th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles.
Rifleman McCabe embarked for France with the Royal Irish Rifles from Bordon, Hampshire, England on 6th October 1915.
Rifleman McCabe was wounded at the front in September / October 1917.
Robert was brought back to hospital in England where he was operated on. He returned home to Lisburn and discharged on 8th October 1917.
Rifleman Robert McCabe died at the County Antrim Infirmary in Lisburn on 18th October 1917. He died from the effects of gas poisoning and internal injuries received on active service.
Robert was one of four brothers who served in the war. At the time of his death, two of them had already been discharged. The fourth, Jack McCabe, who was also serving with the Royal Irish Rifles, arrived home on leave on the day that Robert died. Another brother, Samuel, was involved in transport work.
Rifleman McCabe is buried in Lambeg Parish Church graveyard. The headstone inscription reads: UNTIL THE DAY BREAK AND THE SHADOWS FLEE AWAY
Robert McCabe is commemorated on Hilden War Memorial, near Lisburn.
The CWGC record Rifleman Robert McCabe as the son of Henry and Jane McCabe of 3 Green Hill, Lambeg, County Down.
