Private Joseph Browne Mackenzie
Joseph Browne Mackenzie was born on 23 December 1892 at Terressan, Magherafelt, County Londonderry, the last of ten children of famer William Mackenzie and his wife Elizabeth (nee Bell). By the time of the 1911 Census he was living with his widowed mother and two siblings at nearby Tullywiggan, Tullaghoge, County Tyrone, and working on the family farm.
Mackenzie enlisted in the North Irish Horse between 1 February and 2 April 1913 (No.813 – later Corps of Hussars No.71113). He embarked for France with A Squadron on 17 August 1914, seeing action on the retreat from Mons and advance to the Aisne.
He was mentioned in a report by the Mid-Ulster Mail on 2 October 1915:
Trooper W. Cunningham, North Irish Horse, whose home is in Drapersfield, arrived home on the 16th for a short leave, and left again on the 20th. he went out to France with the first contingent, and saw a good deal of fighting in the earlier stages of the war. During recent months he has been on Sir John French's bodyguard. He was looking very fit and in good heart, after over a year on active service. His immediate chums in France are Troopers Wesley McClelland, Hiram Irwin, John Marks, Joseph MacKenzie, Wm. Anderson, and A. J. McKenna, and these were all well when he left.
Mackenzie remained with the regiment throughout the war. On 20 February 1919 he was transferred to Class Z, Army Reserve.
After the war Mackenzie returned to farming at Tullywiggan. On 14 June 1921 he married Martha Anna Bell at the Third Presbyterian Church, Cookstown.