Private John Lamont
John Lamont was born on 3 March 1895 at Lisleen, Newtownards, County Down, the third of six children of farmer Edward Hugh Lamont and his wife Maggie (née Smyth). By the time of the 1911 Census he was living at Lisleen with his parents and four of his siblings, and working on the family farm.
Lamont enlisted in the North Irish Horse on 8 or 9 November 1915 (No.1826 – later Corps of Hussars No.71578). He trained at the regiment's Antrim reserve camp before embarking for France sometime between 1916 and 1918, where he was posted to one of the squadrons of the 1st North Irish Horse Regiment. This regiment served as corps cavalry to VII, XIX, then V Corps from its establishment in May 1916 until February-March 1918, when it was dismounted and converted to a cyclist unit, serving as corps cyclists to V Corps until the end of the war.
Lamont remained with the regiment throughout the war. On 3 March 1919 he was demobilised and transferred to Class Z, Army Reserve.
After the war Lamont returned to farming at Lisleen. On 2 June 1920 he married Margaret Pyper in the Ballygowan Presbyterian Church.