Private George McCahon
This North Irish Horseman was born as George McCaughey on 28 January 1896 at Fallahogy, Kilrea, County Londonderry, the last of five children of labourer William McCaughey and his wife Mary (née Stewart). It seems that they changed their name to McCahon between 1901 and 1911. By the time of the 1911 Census, George was living at nearby Lisnagroat, Tamlaght, with his parents, brother and a grandmother, and working as a farm servant.
McCahon enlisted in the North Irish Horse at Kilrea on 19 February 1914 (No.913).
Mobilised at the beginning of the war, on 23 August 1914 he was admitted to Londonderry Hospital with "caries of denture" (tooth decay). A medical board five days later reported that he:
Seems for years to have suffered from defective teeth. ... Military service has taken no part in its production. ... Considerably wasted, anemic and dyspeptic.
As a result, on 4 September McCahon was discharged as being permanently unfit for further service (paragraph 281(i) Mobilisation Regulations). His military character was recorded as 'very good'.