Lance Sergeant William James Gibson
William James Gibson was born on 28 August 1894 in Union Street, Lurgan, County Armagh, the third of nine children of hemstitch mechanic William John Gibson and his wife Susan (née Neill). By the time of the 1911 Census he was living at Union Street with his parents and seven surviving siblings and working as an apprentice mechanic.
Gibson enlisted in the North Irish Horse between 10 and 13 September 1914 (No.1209 – later Corps of Hussars No.71283). On 1 May 1915 he embarked for France with D Squadron, which at the time was serving as divisional cavalry to the 51st Division.
In May 1916 D Squadron came together with A and E Squadrons to form the 1st North Irish Horse Regiment, serving as corps cavalry to VII, XIX, then V Corps until February-March 1918, when the regiment was dismounted and converted to a cyclist unit, serving as corps cyclists to V Corps until the end of the war.
Gibson was one of ten men of the regiment severely gassed while on a working party at Ypres on 6 September 1917. It is not known whether he recovered sufficiently to rejoin his regiment at the front later in the war.
On 1 March 1919 he was demobilised and transferred to Class Z, Army Reserve.
Gibson's brother Henry Gibson, and his brother-in-law William John Gibson, also served in the war, in the 9th Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers. Both were killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916.