Private Oliver Johnston

 

 

Oliver Johnston was born on 18 September 1892 at Bodarra Big, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, the seventh of eight children of farmer Oliver Johnston and his wife Margaret (née Little). His mother died when he was just eleven years old and his father nine years later. At the time of the 1911 Census he was living at 130 Woodstock Road, Belfast, with a brother, sister and nephew, and working as a porter in an iron store.

Johnston was a member of the Special Service Section, Willowfield Battalion, East Belfast Regiment, of the Ulster Volunteer Force as well as Royal Black Preceptory 873 and Loyal Orange Lodge 428.

He enlisted in the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons Service Squadron (No.UD/281) between 14 and 26 August 1915. On 6 October the squadron, which was then serving as divisional cavalry to the 36th (Ulster) Division, embarked for France. Johnston, however, remained at the regimental depot at Enniskillen until around January 1917, when he embarked for France as a reinforcement for the squadron.

In June 1916 the Inniskillings squadron had joined with 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 August the following year. In September 1917 the 2nd Regiment was disbanded and most of its officers and men were transferred to the 9th (Service) Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers – which was renamed the 9th (North Irish Horse) Battalion. Johnston, like the majority of the men, was transferred to the battalion on 20 September. He was issued a new regimental number – 41161.

Soon after this, Johnston was wounded in the abdomen, possibly on the night of 3 November when the 9th (NIH) Battalion's C Company mounted a major raid on the German trenches near Havrincourt on the Cambrai front. He recovered from his wound, rejoined his battalion in 1918 and was posted to B Company.

On 22 July 1918 on the Ypres front B Company mounted a raid on a German post at Shoddy Farm. According to the battalion diary:

12.45am. B Company under Captain Murphy DCM MC and 2nd Lieutenants Reynolds, Leahy, Radcliffe and McFarlane and No.15 Platoon of D Company raided Shoddy Farm. One prisoner was captured and thirty others were estimated to be killed. Our casualties: Two Officers and five Other Ranks missing with eleven slightly wounded. The enemy put down a machine-gun barrage followed by artillery support while the party was in No Man's Land. We also captured two light machine-guns, one of which was lost through the carrier becoming a casualty. During day and following night ordinary activity on either side. A Platoon patrolled at night in search of missing men with no success.

Johnston was wounded in the left arm during the raid. Initially admitted to No.18 General Hospital via the 62nd Casualty Clearing Station, on 11 August he was evacuated to the UK for further treatment.

On 21 March 1919 he was demobilised (or discharged). He was granted a partial pension due to his wounds, his level of disability assessed at 6-14 per cent in December 1920.

On 24 December 1923 Johnston married Rachel Hughes in Belfast. They lived at 143 Euston Street, Oliver working as a storeman. He died at his sister's home in Derrylin, Enniskillen, on 26 July 1948. He was buried in the Dundonald Cemetery, Belfast.

 

Image from the Belfast Evening Telegraph kindly provided by Nigel Henderson, Researcher at History Hub Ulster.

 

This page last updated 6 July 2023.