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   2nd Lieutenant Robert James Noel Stuart
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Dated added: 30/12/2015   Last updated: 01/05/2020
Personal Details
Regiment/Service: 3rd Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers (British Army)
Date Of Birth: 23/10/1886
Died: 16/05/1915 (Killed in Action)
Age: 29
Summary      
Robert James Noel Stuart was born in 1886, the only child of Horace Noel Stuart and Madeleine Frances Stuart. Robert’s father Horace was half-brother to Earl Castle Stewart, Stuart Hall, Stewartstown, County Tyrone. Robert received his commission in 1914 and was killed in action at about 08.00 hours on the morning of 16th May 1915.
Further Information
Robert James Noel Stuart was born in 1886, the only child of Horace Noel Stuart and Madeleine Frances Stuart.
Robert’s father Horace was half-brother to Earl Castle Stewart, Stuart Hall, Stewartstown, County Tyrone
Robert received his commission in 1914 and was killed in action at about 08.00 hours on the morning of 16th May 1915. His commanding officer later wrote:
Medal card
“He was a very good reliable Officer and a very good fellow, we are all much grieved at his death, he was a thorough soldier.”
From the Belfast Newsletter dated 31st May 1915: Lord Castle Stewart's Nephew
It is officially announced that Second Lieutenant Robert James Noel Stuart, Royal Scots Fusiliers, was killed in action in northern France on 17th May. The deceased, who was born on 23rd October 1886, was the only child of the late Mr Horace Noel Stuart, brother of the sixth and present Earl of Castle Stewart, of Stewartstown, County Tyrone. He received his commission in August. The Earls of Castle Stewart, although their peerage is an Irish one, are of Scottish descent, deriving from a son of Murdoch, second Duke of Albany. Curiously they would have been Scottish peers had not their ancestor, the third Lord Ochiltree, by a process not now competent, got rid of his Scottish peerage and obtained an Irish peerage from King James VI, who had made him a grant of lands in County Tyrone, where this family still resides in Stuart Hall. The Earl’s second son, Captain the Honourable R S Stewart, also of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, has been missing for some time.
From the Belfast Newsletter dated 3rd June 1915: How Lord Castle Stewart’s Nephew
Lieutenant Robert James Noel Stuart, of whom a notice appeared in this column recently, was instantaneously killed by shell fire about 8am on 17 May and was buried in France by men of the Scots Fusiliers His commanding officer writes ‘He was a very good reliable Officer and a very good fellow. We are all much grieved at his death, he was a thorough soldier.” Lieutenant Stuart was a nephew of the Earl of Castle Stewart, of Stewartstown, County Tyrone.
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 5th June 1915: Lieutenant R J N Stuart
Second Lieutenant Robert James Noel Stuart, Royal Scots Fusiliers, was killed in action in Flanders on 17th May. The deceased, who was born in 1886, was the only child of the late Mr Horace Noel Stuart, brother of the present Earl of Castlestewart. He received his commission in August, The Earls of Castlestewart, although their peerage is an Irish one, are of Scottish descent, deriving from a son of Murdoch, second Duke of Albany. Captain the Honourable R S Stewart, also of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, has been missing for some time. The deceased was instantaneously killed by shell fire about 8am on 17 May and was buried in France by men of the Scots Fusiliers. His commanding officer writes;-
‘He was a very good reliable officer and a very good fellow. We are all much grieved at his death, he was a thorough soldier.’
From the Tyrone Courier dated 10th June 1915: How Lieutenant R J N stuart died
Newspaper Report
Lieutenant Robert James Noel Stuart, of whom a notice appeared in the Courier last week, was instanteously killed by shell fire about 8am on 17 May and was buried in Frsnce by men of the Scots Fusiliers His commanding officer writes “He was a very good reliable Officer and a very good fellow, we are all much grieved at his death, he was a thorough soldier.” Lieutenant Stuart was a nephew of the Earl of Castlestewart.
From the Belfast Newsletter dated 19th July 1915: Wills of Northern Officers – Second Lieutenant R J N Stuart
Second Lieutenant Robert James Noel Stuart, Royal Scots Fusiliers, of Watergate House, Adelphi, W.C., and of 30 Carrington Court, Mayfair, W., who was killed in action near Festubert on 17th May last, aged 28 years, nephew of the Earl of Castlestewart, left unsettled property value for probate at £9,169 9s 4d. Probate of his will, dated 16th February last, has been granted to Mr James Wriothesley Noel, bank clerk, of 37 Fleet Street, E.C., and Mr John Frederick Buttle, solicitor, of 15 Basinghall Street, E.C., to the last name of whom he left 100 pounds The testator left £100 to the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Roehamption, £100 to his aunt, Lady Beatrice Stewart; the contents of his flat, 30 Carrington Court, to Viscount Stuart; his rings, gold chain, and half hunter watch to the Earl of Castlestewart; an annuity of £100 to Darwin Edward Stuart; an annuity of £50 to Katherine Frances Stuart; and, subject to some other bequests, the residue of his property to the Earl of Castlestewart, with the request that it may be used for the upkeep of the title. He stated that the bulk of his property would not fall in until his mother’s death, and he therefore gave his trustees power to postpone the payment of legacies until that time if necessary.
Lieutenant Stuart is buried in plot 5, row L, grave 3 at Guards Cemetery, Windy Corner, Cuinchy, France.
He was the second son of the 6th Earl Castle Stewart and Countess Castle Stewart, Stuart Hall, Stewartstown, County Tyrone, and husband of Nancye Stuart (nee Croker) who was the daughter of Captain Croker, of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Nancye was a nurse in France the First World War. Robert and Nancye had no children.
Robert James Noel Stuart was a cousin of Robert Sheffield Stuart who was killed in action on 2nd November 1914.
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References and Links
No Link Reference Map Doc
1 Andrew John Stuart Cousin
2 National Archives UK Medal card can be purchased here
3 National Archives UK Details can be purchased here
4 Robert Sheffield Stuart Cousin
5 Soldiers Died in the Great War Details of 2nd Lieutenant Robert James Noel Stuart
6 War Graves Photographic Project Photo of 2nd Lieut Robert Stuart's grave can be purchased here
Cookstown District's War Dead Acknowledgements 2010-2023