Lieutenant Harrison Ross
Harrison Ross was born on 5 May 1886 at Helen's Bay near Bangor, County Down, the fourth of nine children of aerated water manufacturer George Harrison Ross and his wife Henrietta Matilda (nee Russ). Educated at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, by 1911 he was living with his family at Cultra, Holywood, and working as a clerk in his father's company.
Ross enlisted in the North Irish Horse on 30 December 1914 (No.1367). He embarked for France on 22 September 1915, where he was posted to A, C or D Squadron.
He later applied for a commission and on 25 October 1916 was appointed 2nd lieutenant in the Royal Irish Rifles. He was posted to the 10th Battalion, joining it at Bulford Camp south of Neuve Eglise on 6 January 1917.
Ross was wounded at the Battle of Messines on 7 June 1917. He was later attached to a battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, possibly following the disbandment of the 10th Royal Irish Rifles in February 1918. In March or April he was again wounded and was evacuated to England, where he was admitted to a London hospital.
On 25 April 1918 he was promoted to lieutenant (an automatic step).
Following the war Ross served in the Royal Ulster Rifles – he was appointed lieutenant on 1 October 1921 (with seniority from 1 November 1920).
Ross also continued in the family mineral water business, W. A. Ross & Co (his father had died in September 1917).
He died at 539 Antrim Road, Belfast, on 11 August 1959.
Three of Ross's five brothers served during the war. Second Lieutenants Melbourne and Kenneth Ross both served in the Royal Irish Rifles, and both were killed at the Battle of Loos on 25 September 1915. Rifleman Wason Ross, also with the Royal Irish Rifles, was killed in action on the Ypres front on 13 April 1918.
Portora Royal School Memorial, with the names of the three Ross brothers who lost their lives in the war
Image sourced from Irish War Memorials site.