Private William Carter
William Carter was born on 30 April 1892 (or 1894) in England, the son of taxi driver William Carter. On 26 December 1915 he married Mary Connett in St Matthew's Church, Marylebone, London. At the time he was working as a coffee roaster and living at 10 Huntsworth Terrace.
On 25 February 1916 Carter was attested at Marylebone and posted to the Army Reserve. He was mobilised on 3 October that year and posted to the 4th Battalion, The Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment (No.5953). On 22 January 1917 he was transferred to the 2/1 Regiment, Derbyshire Yeomanry (No.76554).
Over the following year or so he was disciplined for a number of offences: on 26 June 1917 for being absent off bicycle stable (7 days' confined to camp); on 7 August 1917 for being absent off pass from midnight 2 August until apprehended at 10.30 pm on 5 August by a military policeman at Canterbury East Station (7 days' confined to barracks and forfeit 3 days' pay); and on 12 April 1918 for being absent without leave from midnight 7 April until 7 am 10 April (7 days' Field Punishment No.2 and forfeit 3 days' pay).
On 12 September 1918, Carter and 55 other men of the regiment were compulsorily transferred to the Corps of Hussars (No.81265) and posted to the 1st North Irish Horse Regiment, which was then serving in France as corps cyclist regiment to V Corps. They embarked at Folkestone for Boulogne that day, joining the regiment in the field on 18 September, where they were assigned to A, D and E Squadrons, joining in the fighting during the Advance to Victory offensive in the final weeks of the war. Carter, however, spent much of this time in hospital – from 27 September to 20 October with a knee abrasion and from 14 November to 2 December with a middle-ear infection.
On 7 June 1919, with around twenty other North Irish Horsemen, he was transferred to the Army Cyclist Corps (No.23913) and posted to IV Corps Cyclist Regiment, part of the Army of Occupation based in Rolsdorf, Germany.
Carter was demobilised and transferred to Class Z, Army Reserve, on 9 November 1919.
After the war he returned to Marylebone, living with his wife at 12 Bowmans Buildings, Edgeware Road, and working as a general labourer.