Private Edmund Charles Douglas
Edmund Charles Douglas was born on 26 August 1882 at Portballintrae, Bushmills, County Antrim, the second of five children of land agent (later magistrate) Richard William Magenis Douglas and his London-born wife Julia (née Bonorandi). Edmund emigrated to the United States then Canada at the beginning of 1911.
Douglas later returned to Ireland, enlisting in the North Irish Horse on 22 November 1915 (No.1951 – later Corps of Hussars No.71644). He trained at the regiment's Antrim reserve camp before embarking for France sometime between 1916 and 1918, possibly with E Squadron on 11 January 1916. In May 1916 E Squadron came together with A and D Squadrons to form the 1st North Irish Horse Regiment, serving as corps cavalry to VII, XIX, then V Corps.
The Ballymoney Free Press of 18 May 1916 reported that Douglas had been promoted to the rank of sergeant. On 11 November that year he married Eleanor Mary Keatley in Basford, Nottinghamshire.
In February-March 1918 the 1st North Irish Horse Regiment was dismounted and converted to a cyclist unit. It then served as corps cyclists to V Corps until the end of the war, seeing action from August to November 1918 in the Advance to Victory offensive. Douglas served with the regiment during that time. On 6 September 1918 he was hospitalised in France.
On 6 April 1919 Douglas was discharged as 'surplus to military requirements, having suffered impairment since entry into the service' (paragraph 392 xvi(a), King's Regulations). he was granted a pension due to a hernia and shellshock, both of which were attributed to his military service. In September 1920 his level of disability was assessed at 30 per cent.
After the war Douglas lived in Dervock, County Antrim, and later at 190 Marshall Road, Mapperley, Nottingham, before returning to Canada in November 1923. He died in Hamilton, Ontario, on 23 February 1971, and was buried in the Woodland Cemetery.
Two of Douglas's brothers also served in the war. Lance Sergeant Donald Gordon Douglas of the 4th South African Infantry Regiment was killed in Belgium on 20 September 1917. William Archer Jackson (Sholto) Douglas served in the American Expeditionary Force in World War 1, and as a war correspondent with the US Army in World War 2.
From De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour
William Archer Douglas
Image of Douglas's gravestone sourced from the Find-a-Grave website. Image of William Archer Douglas sourced from Ancestry.com Public Member Trees - contributor Sherry Buser.