Private Thomas Wright, B Squadron, North Irish Horse, Service No. 1582.

Born Pullans, Coleraine, Antrim. Fourth son of William John and Mary Wright of Damhead Cottages, Coleraine.

Enlisted at Antrim in May 1915. Embarked for France on 17 November 1915.

Died of wounds on 28 July 1916, aged 22. The 2nd Regiment War Diary of 22 July 1916 states:

B Squadron cleared up battlefield [Mash Valley on the Somme]. The German artillery was pretty active, No.1582 Private T. Wright getting wounded very early in the proceedings.

Private Wright's brother John Small Wright, serving in the 36th (Ulster) Division with the 10th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, had been killed four weeks earlier, and just a few miles away, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Thomas Wright is buried at Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, grave IX.A.11A.

The gravestone inscription reads:

1582 PRIVATE

T. WRIGHT

NORTH IRISH HORSE

28TH JULY 1916

Gravestone image kindly provided by Martin Harvey. Image of Private Wright and some of the information above reproduced with the generous agreement of Robert Thompson, from his book Coleraine Heroes.