Robert William Cunningham was born in 1891, the youngest of the three children of Robert Cunningham (1847-1921) and Mary Fanny Cunningham née Hurst (b. c1847). His father was a night watchman. His birth was registered in the 4th quarter of 1891 in the St George in the East registration district, London. His two sisters were: Agnes Mary Cunningham (1881-1928) and Gertrude Kate Cunningham (1883-1899).
In the 1911 census he was described as a 19-year-old boy clerk employed by the Civil Service Commission, living in a 5 roomed property at 127 Seymour Place, Marylebone, the home of his brother-in-law Frederick Notton (1881-1932) who was a beer & wine seller and Agnes Mary Notton née Cunningham.
He was serving as a Lance Serjeant in the 13th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Kensington), when on 16 January 1915 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 9th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Queen Victoria's Rifles).
Promoted to Captain, he was killed in action, aged 24 years, on 1 July 1916 and as he has no known grave he is commemorated on Pier and Face 9C of the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, France.
Probate records read that Robert William Cunningham of 94 Durham Road, Finsbury Park, Middlesex, Captain 9th London Regiment, died on or between 1 July 1916 and 17 October 1916 in France or Germany. Administration was granted on 28 April 1917 to his sister Agnes Mary Notton and his effects totalled £359-12s-1d. His army effects totalling £106-3s-10d were sent to his sister who was his administratrix on 17 May 1917 and she was sent his £6-0s-0d war gratuity on 27 August 1919. He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal.
He is shown as Cunningham. R. Capt. 9th.City.Lon.Batt. on the Quebec Chapel war memorial. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website and on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
