Private Robert Allen
Robert Allen was born on 20 October 1892 at 190 Agnes Street, Belfast, the second of nine children of printer-compositor Thomas Allen and his wife Mary Jane (née Lowry). By the time of the 1911 Census he was living at the same address with his parents and his four surviving siblings, and working as a law clerk.
Allen enlisted in the North Irish Horse between 8 and 19 October 1915 (No.1744 – later Corps of Hussars No.71534). 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.
Allen remained with the regiment throughout the war. On 14 February 1919 he was demobilised and transferred to Class Z, Army Reserve.
He died at Totland Bay on the Isle of Wight on 8 February 1925.