Private Thomas Cassidy
Thomas Cassidy was born on 6 April 1900 in William Street, Lurgan, County Armagh, the eighth of nine children of labourer (formerly soldier, later cambric weaver) Francis Cassidy and his wife Mary (née McCorry). At the time of the 1911 Census he was living at 25 Thomas Street, Lurgan, with his parents and one of his four surviving siblings. They later lived at 37 Abyssinia Street, Belfast.
Cassidy enlisted in the North Irish Horse at Belfast on 23 April 1917 (regimental number 2430 or 2431 – later Corps of Hussars No.71823). He was described as being 5' 6¼" tall, with a fresh complexion, dark hair and brown eyes. He stated that he was aged 19 (two years more than his true age) and that he worked as a labourer.
He trained at the regiment's Antrim reserve camp, but was reported to have deserted from that place on 8 March 1918.
He embarked for France later that year (though it is also possible he had embarked in 1917 but returned due to sickness or injury before March 1918).
There 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.
At some point Cassidy fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis. He was discharged in 1920 or 1921 and awarded a pension, his level of disability assessed at 100 per cent. He died at his home, 37 Abyssinia Street, on 7 September 1921, aged 21.