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Private James Hanna

 

James Hanna was born on 24 January 1898 at Crumkill (Cromkill), Ballymena, County Antrim, the fifth of eleven children of farmer Samuel James Hanna and his wife Isabella (née Greenwood). At the time of the 1911 Census he was living at Crumkill with his parents and seven surviving siblings (two more would be born over the next two years).

(Another James Hanna, a solicitor's clerk, came from the same area, but had moved to Monaghan by the time the war began, so is unlikely to have been this North Irish Horseman.)

Hanna enlisted in the North Irish Horse between late May and early July 1918 (regimental number unknown at present). He would have trained at the regimental reserve camp at Antrim until discharged at some point during 1919.

Note: The Presbyterian Church in Ireland's Roll of Honour states that he was wounded, but this seems unlikely, as I have found no record of him serving overseas.