Private Henry Acheson Booth
Henry Acheson Booth was born on 28 August 1895 at Maguiresbridge, Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh, the first of twelve children of labourer Henry Booth and his wife Annie Margaret (nee Howe). The family moved to Belfast in 1898 or 1899. By the time of the 1911 Census Henry was living with his parents and four siblings at 74 Armoy Street, Belfast.
Booth enlisted in the North Irish Horse on 29 July 1916 (No.2223 – later Corps of Hussars No.71717). Around April 1917 he embarked for France, where he was posted to one of the squadrons of the 1st or 2nd North Irish Horse Regiments.
In August 1917 Booth fell ill with dysentery. He was admitted to the 2nd General Hospital at Le Havre, where he remained for three weeks before being evacuated to the UK.
Further medical assessments found Booth was suffering from nephritis and disorderly action of the heart, attributed to his service in France. On 15 March 1918 he was discharged, being no longer physically fit for war service (paragraph 392 xvi, King's Regulations), and was granted a pension. In 1920 his level of disability was still as high as 80 per cent, but was down to 40 per cent two years later.
By 1920 Booth was living at 19 Teutonic Street, Belfast, and working as a labourer. On 8 June that year he married Elizabeth Henry at the Falls Road Methodist Church.
Booth's father Henry also served in the war, as a rifleman in the 16th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles. He died in Belfast on 8 September 1916.
Images kindly provided by William Gordon.