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Private Sterling J. Lewis

 

The background of this North Irish Horseman is not known at present. He may have been the Edwin Sterling Lewis born on 22 January 1895 in Rush, Balrothery, Dublin, the second of six children of English-born parents, coastguard Edwin Lewis and his wife Harriet Jane (née James). By the time of the 1911 Census he was living at the Royal Oaks Inn, Rhyl, North Wales, with his parents and his four surviving siblings. His father, by then a Naval pensioner, was working as an innkeeper and club steward, while Sterling worked as a motor and cycle apprentice.

Lewis enlisted in the North Irish Horse between 2 and 15 September 1916 (No.2273 – later Corps of Hussars No.71733). He trained at the regiment's Antrim reserve depot before embarking for France sometime between 1916 and 1918.

Lewis remained with the regiment throughout the war. On 8 February 1919 he was demobilised and transferred to Class Z, Army Reserve.