Francis Cinnamond

Bank: Ulster Bank

Place of work: Newtownards branch

Died: 12 November 1918

Francis Cinnamond was born in 1893, the son of Robert and Martha Cinnamond. He worked for Ulster Bank.

In September 1915 Cinnamond left his job as assistant accountant at the bank's Newtownards branch to join the army, serving initially as a Private in the Royal Irish Rifles, and later - after being commissioned - as a Lieutenant in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.

Cinnamond was posted to the Western Front in early 1917. He was taken prisoner in April 1918, and held in an officers' prisoner of war camp at Graudenz in Germany (now Poland). He died there on 12 November 1918, the day after the signing of the Armistice. He was 25 years old.

The Newtownards Chronicle later reported that, three weeks before his death, Cinnamond had written from Graudenz to his old manager at the bank, noting that 'we all hope to see the homeland again soon...What news we do get here is one-sided but of the best.'

Francis Cinnamond is commemorated on two memorials at Ulster Bank’s Belfast head office: its roll of honour for staff who served in the First World War and its memorial for those who fell.