Robert McCahon was the son of John McCahon. Robert was born on 7th July 1888 in Texas, U.S.A. By the time of the 1901 census, his mother had died and the family had moved to Kilrea where his father had a drapery shop. Robert attended Coleraine Academical Institution and went on to Trinity College Dublin. Robert joined the engineering department of the Belfast City Corporation. Robert McCahon enlisted early in 1915. He was commissioned as a Special Reserve 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers that August. Lieutenant Robert McCahon was serving with the 69th Field Company of the Royal Engineers when he was wounded by shellfire. He was removed to hospital in Doullens, but he died of his wounds on 30th March 1918.
Doullens is a town in the Department of the Somme, approximately 30 kilometres north of Amiens on the N25 road to Arras. The Communal Cemetery and Extensions lie on the eastern side of the town, about 270 metres south-east of the road to Arras.
