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Private Alfred James Connor, MM

 

Alfred James Connor was born on 31 December 1888 at Silverhill, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, one of seven children of farmer William Connor and his wife Mary (nee Graham).

By 1911 he was living in Lurgan, County Armagh, where he worked as a shop assistant for grocer and seed merchant James Carson.

Connor enlisted in the North Irish Horse between 1914 and 1916. At the end of December 1916 he was one of forty North Irish Horsemen who transferred to the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (No.40639). They embarked for France on 9 January 1917 and were posted to the 10th Battalion, joining it at Ploegsteert Wood on the Ypres front.

In November 1917 Connor was awarded a Military Medal for conspicuous bravery in the field.

In February 1918 the 10th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, was disbanded – Connor was posted to the 1st Battalion.

He was captured, unwounded, near St Quentin on 22 March 1918 at the beginning of the German Spring Offensive. He was repatriated home after the war.