Lance Corporal W. J. Armstrong

 

The background of this man is not clear, other than that, according to one record, his mother, named Catherine Armstrong, lived at Feddans, Kesh, County Fermanagh. On that basis he may have been the John (Jack) Armstrong born at Feddans on 8 November 1889, the first of five children of farmer John Armstrong and his wife Catherine (née Johnston). At the time of the 1911 Census he was living at Feddans with his mother, two brothers and a half-brother, and working on the family farm. (Alternatively he may have been the William John Armstrong born at Feddans on 25 August 1871, the second of five children of John (Jack) Armstrong (see above) and his first wife, Eliza (née Woods) – and therefore the step-son of Catherine Armstrong.)

Armstrong enlisted in the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons Service Squadron between 23 October and 6 November 1914 (No. UD/78). The squadron, which had been formed as divisional cavalry for the 36th (Ulster) Division, embarked for France on 6 October 1915. A party of at least thirty men of the squadron, including Armstrong, had embarked three days earlier, many if not all attached to 36th Division Headquarters. He later rejoined his squadron, though it is not known when this took place.

In June 1916 the Inniskilling squadron joined C and F Squadrons of the North Irish Horse to form the 2nd North Irish Horse Regiment, serving as corps cavalry to X Corps until September 1917, when the regiment was disbanded and most of  its men were transferred to the infantry.

Armstrong, however, was one of fourteen of the regiment who, just prior to that (on 18 July), were transferred to the Military Mounted Police (No. P/12044), remaining with that regiment until the end of the war.

On 10 July 1919 he was demobilised and transferred to Class Z, Army Reserve.

 

This page last updated 18 March 2023.