Private William J. McQuoid
This North Irish Horseman was one of the following:
William McQuoid born on 14 August 1885 at 98 Westmoreland Street, Belfast, the eighth of nine children of engine fitter John McQuoid and his wife Elizabeth (née Britten). In October 1901 he enlisted in the Militia, purchasing his discharge in January 1904. By the time of the 1911 Census he was living at Westmoreland Street with his parents and two of his four surviving siblings, as a bricklayer, though unemployed at the time.
William John McQuoid born on 25 August 1895 at 65 Dover Street, Belfast, the third of five children of bricklayer Charles McQuoid and his wife Harriet Miriam (née Thompson). By the time of the 1911 Census he was living at Clondara Terrace on the Falls Road with his parents and siblings.
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland's Roll of Honour, under the Berry Street Congregation, shows a Private William McQuoid, North Irish Horse, from 105 Westmoreland Street, and a Private William McQuoid, Royal Irish Rifles (and his brother Private James McQuoid, Army Service Corps), from 5 Clondara Terrace. Under the Broadway Congregation, however, it shows Private William McQuoid, North Irish Horse (and his brother Corporal James McQuoid, Army Service Corps), from Clondara Terrace.
McQuoid enlisted in the North Irish Horse between 4 and 10 June 1915 (No.1683 – later Corps of Hussars No.71498). 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.
McQuoid remained with the regiment throughout the war. On 25 February 1919 he was demobilised and transferred to Class Z, Army Reserve.