Lance Corporal Harry Curry
The background of this North Irish Horseman is not known for certain, but it seems probable that he was the Henry Curry born on 3 June 1895 in High Street, Antrim, the last of eleven children of bootmaker Alexander Curry and his wife Elizabeth (née Irwin). By the time of the 1911 Census he was living at 6 Church Street, Antrim, with his parents and three of his six surviving siblings, and working as a commercial clerk.
Curry enlisted in the North Irish Horse between 28 May and 1 June 1915 (No.1646). He embarked for France in 1916 or the first half of 1917, where he was posted to one of the squadrons of the 1st or 2nd North Irish Horse Regiments, probably B or C Squadron of the 2nd Regiment.
In September 1917 the 2nd NIH Regiment was disbanded and its men transferred to the infantry. Curry was one of 70 men given the job of conducting the regiment's horses to Egypt, to be handed over for use by mounted units there. They embarked from Marseilles on board HMT Bohemian on 25 August. After a month at Alexandria they returned to France, via Italy. On 5 October 1917 they arrived at the 36th (Ulster) Division Infantry Base Depot at Harfleur for infantry training, and after just a few days were posted to the 9th (Service) Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers – which had been renamed the 9th (North Irish Horse) Battalion – joining it in the field at Ruyaulcourt on 12 October. Curry was issued regimental number 41569.
Curry probably saw action with the battalion at the Battle of Cambrai in November and December 1917, and probably also during the retreat from St Quentin from 21 to 28 March 1918. He was wounded in the spring of 1918, probably in the fighting near Kemmel Hill during April.
Nothing more has been located about his service during the war.