Sergeant William Henry Cargo
William Henry Cargo was born on 2 July 1874 at Cottown (Cotton), Bangor, County Down, the fifth or sixth of seven children of blacksmith Henry Cargo and his wife Margaret (née Tanner). The family later moved to Magheracranmoney, Inch, County Down, William living at neaby Downpatrick and working as a watchmaker.
On 14 November 1899 he married Annie Patterson, the daughter of a sergeant in the Royal Irish Rifles, at Clough Presbyterian Church. The couple had seven children before Annie's death in August 1914.
Cargo enlisted in the North Irish Horse on 20 August 1914 (No.1023 – later Corps of Hussars No.71202). He embarked for France between 1916 and 1918, where he was posted to one of the squadrons of the 1st North Irish Horse Regiment, which served as corps cavalry to VII, XIX, then V Corps 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.
Cargo remained with the North Irish Horse throughout the war, though whether he remained in France and Belgium for all of that time, or returned to the Antrim depot, is not known at present. On 17 March 1919 he was discharged as 'surplus to military requirements, having suffered impairment since entry into the service' (paragraph 392 xvi(a), King's Regulations). Suffering from 'debility, palpitation, weakness and varicose veins', some of which were attributed to his military service, he was granted a disability pension.
After his discharge Cargo returned to watchmaking at Inch. On 11 June 1919 he married Isabella Moore at St Jude's Parish Church, Muckamore, County Antrim.
Cargo's older brother John also served in the war, as a sapper in the Royal Engineers.