Private William Henry Joseph Lydon
William Henry Joseph Lydon was born on 23 April 1900 at Bowling Green, Galway, the sixteenth of eighteen children of angler Michael Lydon and his wife Delia (née Dwyer). By the time of the 1911 Census he was living at 3 Eglinton Street, Galway, with his parents and five of his ten surviving siblings.
Lydon enlisted in the South Irish Horse at Cahir, County Tipperary, on 17 October 1918. He gave his occupation as carpenter and joiner, and his employer as Harvey & McLoughlin building contractors of Dublin. The following day he was posted to the South Irish Horse's Galway depot, where he was issued Corps of Hussars number 74177.
On 23 December 1918 Lydon was posted to the North Irish Horse at Antrim. How much, if any, time he served there is not known, but on 10 January 1919 he was admitted to the Galway Hospital suffering from heart problems. He remained there until the end of the month, when he was admitted to King George V Hospital in Dublin. After treatment there, a medical board held on 3 March found that he was suffering from valvular disease of the heart (aortic sytolic murmour) of hereditary origin.
In 1912 had a fall off his bicycle & was badly shaken & suffered from pains about his heart. He was brought to a Doctor who told him his heart was not sound. When he enlisted he was placed in Category A.
The board recommended his discharge, which took place on 21 March 1919 (paragraph 392 (xvi), King's Regulations 'no longer physically fit for war service').
At least one of Lydon's brothers also served in the war. Joseph Patrick Lydon was killed in action in Belgium on 10 June 1917 while serving with the 42nd Battalion, Australian Imperial Force.