Private (James) Herbert McKimmon
James Herbert McKimmon was born on 4 November 1896 at 3 Grove Park, Rathmines, Dublin, the third and last child of buyer and drapery manager James McKimmon and his wife Agnes (nee McIntyre). McKimmon's sister Agnes Laura died in 1898, aged 3, and his mother in 1903. At the time of the 1911 Census he was living at 6 Rosetta Avenue, Belfast, with his father and surviving brother. By 1915 he was working at the firm of Messrs Blow & McKaig, linen merchants of Donegall Square, Belfast.
McKimmon enlisted in the North Irish Horse on 8 or 9 November 1915 (No.1822 – later Corps of Hussars No.71576), and embarked for France in 1916 or 1917, where he was posted to one of the squadrons of the 1st North Irish Horse Regiment.
On 6 September 1917 a working party from the regiment came under a gas attack at Ypres. McKimmon was one of the ten casualties. He was evacuated to England where he was sent for treatment to Firvale Hospital at Sheffield.
Whether he saw any futher service at the front is unknown.
McKimmon was demobilised and transferred to Class Z, Army Reserve, on 7 February 1919.
By 1924 he was living at 8 Rosetta Terrace, 561 Ormeau Road, Belfast, and working as a linen warehouseman. He died on 8 April that year due to acute pulmonary tuberculosis. He was buried in the Belfast City Cemetery.
His brother, Robert Alexander, who died on 22 March 1928, was probably the R. A. McKimmon who served in the Royal Garrison Artillery (No.186248) during the war (see images below).
St Jude's Parish Church, Belfast
Image from Belfast Evening Telegraph courtesy of Nigel Henderson, Great War Researcher at History Hub Ulster. Images from St Jude's courtesy of Bracken Anderson. My thanks to Robert Mitchell for pointing out his burial record.
This page last updated 16 June 2026.