Private John Thomas Howe
John Thomas Howe was born on 28 August 1896 at Tattenamona, Maguiresbridge, County Fermanagh, the fourth of six children of farmer and publican John Henry Howe and his wife Margaret Anne (nee Beatty). By the time of the 1911 Census he was living with his parents and siblings at Clamperhill, Maguiresbridge.
Howe enlisted in the North Irish Horse on 24 January 1914 (No.891). He embarked for France with C Squadron on 20 August 1914, seeing action on the retreat from Mons and advance to the Aisne.
In June 1916, C Squadron joined with F Squadron and the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons Service Squadron to form the 2nd North Irish Horse Regiment, serving as corps cavalry to X Corps until August 1917, when the regiment was disbanded and most of its men were transferred to the 9th (Service) Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers – renamed the 9th (North Irish Horse) Battalion. Like most of the men, Howe was transferred on 20 September. He was issued a new regimental number – 41300.
Howe probably saw action with the battalion at the Battle of Cambrai in November and December 1917.
On 17 January 1918 the 9th (NIH) Battalion moved to Grand Seraucourt, on the St Quentin front. The 2 March War Office Daily Casualty List reported that Howe had been wounded. It is not presently known when this occurred. Later documents state that it was a wound to his right arm.
Whether Howe returned to France later in the war is not known, but it seems unlikely. On 7 March 1919 he was discharged as no longer physically fit for military service due to his wounds (paragraph 392 xvi, King's Regulations). He was granted a pension, and as late as 1921 the level of his disability was rated at 60 per cent.
After the war Howe resumed farming. He died at Maguiresbridge on 17 April 1968.
Image, from Belfast Evening Telegraph, from March 1915, kindly provided by Nigel Henderson, Researcher at History Hub Ulster (www.greatwarbelfastclippings.com).