Lieutenant Arthur Ernest Dallas
Arthur Ernest Dallas, an insurance clerk, was born at Clontarf, Dublin, on 18 October 1892. He was the fifth of six children of tailor James Thomas Dallas and his wife Margaret Harriet (nee Crozier).
He enlisted in the North Irish Horse at Belfast on 26 October 1914 (No.1332). On 1 June 1915 he was promoted to lance corporal and on 23 September to corporal. He embarked for France with F Squadron of the North Irish Horse on 17 November 1915.
During 1916 Dallas applied for a commission and in January 1917 left France for the Cavalry Cadet School at Netheravon.
On 17 April 1917 he was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant and posted to the North Irish Horse reserve regiment at Antrim. On 29 June 1917 he was sent to France for duty with the 1st North Irish Horse Regiment.
In February-March 1918 the 1st North Irish Horse was dismounted and converted to a corps cyclist regiment. This left around a quarter of the officers and men of the regiment surplus to requirements. Between 1 and 13 March nine officers and 66 other ranks left the regiment, all but three of the latter reporting for duty at the Machine Gun Base Depot at Camiers. However following heavy losses in the German offensive at the end of March, most were attached as reinforcements to regular cavalry units of the 1st Cavalry Division. The war diary of the 9th (Queen's Royal) Lancers notes on 3 April that six officers of the North Irish Horse joined the regiment, one of those being 2nd Lieutenant Dallas.
Dallas remained with the Lancers. The regimental diary that he was hospitalised from 8 to 18 August 1918. He was promoted to lieutenant on 17 October 1918. After the Armistice he served with the regiment at Düren in Germany.
He was demobilised on 22 February 1919 and resigned his commission in the North Irish Horse on 23 March 1920.
His name is included on the Roll of Honour of the Clontarf Cricket and Football Club (see image below).
Dallas's younger brother, 2nd Lieutenant William Reid Dallas of the RAF's 215 Squadron, died in a flying accident near St Omer on 24 December 1918.
Image sourced from the Irish War Memorials site.
This page last updated 19 March 2024.