Battle Of Somme
Rifleman Carnduff, Samuel (No. 17416) No. 17416, ‘B’ Company, 13th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action on Saturday 1 July 1916 Buried: Cerisy-Gailly Military Cemetery, France (Grave III C 9)
Newtownards and District War Memorial Newtownards Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Mark) – as Cairnduff In some records the surname is spelt Cairnduff.
In the Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 – 1919 database it is recorded that Samuel Carnduff was born in Newtownards and he enlisted in Newtownards. Rifleman Samuel Carnduff served with the 13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in 108th Brigade of the 36th (Ulster) Division and he was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
Rifleman Samuel Carnduff is commemorated on Newtownards and District War Memorial and in Newtownards Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Mark) where his surname is spelt Cairnduff.

Rifleman Carnduff, (No. 9294), James Carnduff (Tibs), 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action on Wednesday 10 March 1915 No known grave. Commemorated: Le Touret Memorial, France (Panel 42 and 43)
Newtownards and District War Memorial Newtownards Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Mark) – as Cairnduff
In some records the surname is spelt Cairnduff.
Born around 1882 in Newtownards Son of Joseph and Mary Carnduff (nee McKee) who were married on 11 November 1876 Lived in Georges Street, Newtownards Joseph Carnduff worked as a stone mason.
Joseph and Mary had at least eleven children including: James (born around 1882) Alexander (born around 1885) William (born around 1887) Grace (born around 1890) Samuel (born 20 February 1892) Thomas (born 29 March 1894) Mary (born 10 April 1896) Malcolm (born 20 July 1899) Their father Joseph died on 19 December 1902 (aged 60)
Prior to the outbreak of the Great War James Carnduff worked as a stone mason and bricklayer. James Carnduff and Isabella Hanna (born in Scotland, daughter of James Hanna, a laborer) were married on 12 July 1899 in Greenwell Street Presbyterian Church, Newtownards and they had six children:
Mary Jane (Winnie, born 15 April 1900) James (born 9 January 1902) William (born 18 January 1905) Elizabeth (Lizzie, born 18 November 1906) Nellie Hanna (born 23 May 1908) Emily (born 11 November 1910) After their mother Isabella became unwell she was admitted to Downpatrick Hospital. The Carnduff family lived in East Street, Newtownards.
James Carnduff enlisted on 8 September 1914 in Newtownards and declared his age to be 32 years 122 days.  It was noted that he was 5 feet 5 inches tall with blue eyes and dark brown hair.  Prior to the outbreak of the Great War James Carnduff had been a member of the North Downs and when war broke out he re-joined the colors.  He went to France on 6 November 1914 and on successive days in March 1915 two men from Newtownards were killed in action at Neuve Chapelle where the Allied objective was to take Aubers Ridge – Rifleman James Carnduff on 10 March and Rifleman Alexander Gibson on 11 March.  First news of their deaths reached Newtownards in a letter written by Rifleman John Weir (No. 7496) to his uncle James Weir of Mill Street, Newtownards.
Rifleman James Carnduff (known as Tibs) left a wife and six children the eldest of whom was 15.  Before the war the Carnduffs lived in Georges Street, Newtownards and, after James enlisted, his wife and family moved to 82 Mill Street, Newtownards to live with the children’s grandmother, Mary Carnduff.  Later they lived at 34 Greenwell Street, Newtownards.
In March 1916 James Carnduff’s mother, brothers, sisters, wife and family placed an Our Heroes – In Memoriam notice in the Newtownards Chronicle and it contained the verse

Far, far away thy grave to see, But not too far to think of thee

No morning dawns, no light returns, but what, dear son, I think of thee.

We cannot, Lord, Thy purpose see, But all is well that’s done by Thee.

Their address at that time was 27 Frederick Street, Newtownards.

Rifleman Carnduff, Robert (No. 17388), 13th & 12th Battalions, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action on Tuesday 26 March 1918 (aged 26) No known grave
Commemorated: Pozieres Memorial, France (Panel 74 to 76)
Newtownards and District War Memorial Second Newtownards Presbyterian Church
BIOGRAPHY In some records the surname is spelt Cairnduff.
Born around 1891/1892 in Newtownards Son of Samuel and Ann Jane Carnduff Lived in Mill Street, Newtownards and at 20 Greenhill Terrace (Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honor Website).
Samuel Carnduff worked as a general laborer and he and Ann Jane had at least five children:
Elizabeth (Lizzie, born around 1877/1878) Samuel (born around 1881/1882) Fabie (Febby, born around 1884/1885)
James (born around 1887) Robert (born around 1891/1892) their mother, Ann Jane, died on 22 October 1893 (aged 46)
Robert Carnduff enlisted in Newtownards and he was stationed at Clandeboye Camp, Bangor when he and Sarah Kerr (a box-folder of 41 West Street, Newtownards and a daughter of Nathaniel Kerr, a mason) were married on 12 February 1915 in Ballygrainey Presbyterian Church.
Rifleman Robert Carnduff served with the 13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in 108th Brigade of the 36th (Ulster) Division and he was wounded during the Battle of Langemarck in August 1917.  He was transferred to the 12th Battalion and was killed in action on 26 March 1918 during the German Spring Offensive.  At the time of Robert’s death his wife Sarah was living at 39 Robert Street, Newtownards.  Later she moved to High Street, Portaferry. Carnduff,

Cairnduff, Valentine (Val) No. 4596 Lance Corporal No. 4596, 2nd Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
Killed in action on Friday 19 November 1915 (aged 20)
Buried: Suzanne Communal Cemetery Extension, France (Grave B 10)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Newtownards and District War Memorial
Newtownards Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Mark)
BIOGRAPHY
Born 14 May 1895 in Newtownards
Only son of Jane Cairnduff who worked as a spinner and they lived in John Street Lane with Jane’s parents James and Emily Cairnduff.  James Cairnduff was a horse dealer and he and Emily had at least eleven children including Jane, Lizzie, Sarah, Eleanor, Robert, Bella, Malcolm and William James.
There is some variation in the spelling of the family surname.  In census records it is spelt Carnduff.  On Newtownards and District War Memorial, on the Church War Memorial, in Newspaper notices and in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Debt of Honour it is spelt Cairnduff.  In Ireland’s Memorial Records (IMR) 1914 – 1918 it is spelt Carinduff.
Prior to the outbreak of the Great War Valentine Cairnduff worked as a shoemaker and on 5 December 1914 he and Marion McNurney were married in First Londonderry Presbyterian Church.  He made a will and after he died his property and effects were received by his widow who lived at 27 Elmwood Terrace, Londonderry.
Sergeant J Snodden wrote to Lance Corporal Valentine Cairnduff’s mother to express his sympathy and he told her that Valentine had died on the night of 19 November ‘without suffering of any kind’.
Lance Corporal H McClurg also wrote to her and he enclosed a blood-stained photo of Valentine’s wife Marion.  He described the photograph as having been ‘enriched by the blood shed by her husband for his God and country’.  The photograph was printed on a postcard and on the back of it Valentine had written his last, and subsequently bloodstained, message of love.After Valentine Cairnduff died his mother Jane was living at 13 Pound Street, Newtownards.  She placed a Killed in Action notice in the Newtownards Chronicle and it contained the verse:

No loved one stood around him, To hear his last farewell;

No parting kisses could he give, To those he loved so well.

In November 1915 Lance Corporal Valentine Cairnduff’s mother, then living in Lower Mary Street, Newtownards placed an Our Heroes – In Memoriam notice in the Newtownards Chronicle and it contained the verse:

16 Station Street Ringwood Melbourne Victoria,

J. B Cairnduff is on the left hand panel