Son of Mr John & Fanny Carnaghan of Joymount, Carrickfergus and youngest brother to Jane, Isabella and Arthur Carnaghan. Robert’s father was a local sailor born in Carrickfergus, he married a Yorkshire girl and raised a family there before returning to Carrickfergus in the late 1890’s – Robert was the only child to be born in Ireland.
Prior to enlisting with the Royal Irish Rifles he served his time as a painter. During the war he was attached to the Yorkshire Regiment presumably due to the his maternal links there – he was wounded during the conflict but survived the war.
The Carnaghan extended family would have been very well known in Carrickfergus at the time – Robert’s uncle Robert A Carnaghan was a shop keeper in Market Place and one of the founding members of Scotch Quarter Invincibles Orange Lodge 1895, with its first ever meeting being held in his house in 1895. He was also one of the first elected members to the Carrickfergus Urban District Council in 1899.
The entire extended family were all members of St Nicholas Church of Ireland congregation.
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