Private William Hamilton Graham Millikin
William Hamilton Graham Millikin was born on 18 February 1897 at Irvinestown, County Fermanagh, the second of four children of Northern Bank cashier James Millikin and his wife Alicia Margaret (nee McGee). By the time of the 1911 Census he was living at Marsden Gardens, Belfast, with his parents and three sisters.
Millikin joined the Northern Bank at its head office in Belfast on 16 March 1914. Between 7 August and 20 September 1915 he enlisted in the North Irish Horse (No.1720). He embarked for France between 1916 and the first half of 1917, where he was posted to one of the squadrons of the 1st or 2nd North Irish Horse Regiment.
In September 1917 the 2nd NIH Regiment was disbanded and most of its men, together with some surplus to the needs of the 1st NIH Regiment, were retrained as infantrymen before being transferred to the 9th (Service) Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers – renamed the 9th (North Irish Horse) Battalion. Millikin, like the majority, was transferred on 20 September. He was issued a new regimental number – 41443.
Millikin was reported as having been wounded in the War Office Daily Casualty Lists of 23 May and 12 September 1918, though the dates and circumstances are not known at present.
After the war, Millikin resumed work with the Northern Bank, working at Ballinamore (1920), Donegall Square (1922), Head Office (1923), Crumlin Road (1924), Knock Sub-branch ((1924), Irvinestown(1932), Shaftesbury Square (1933), Falls (1936), Lisburn (1937), Shankill Road (1941), and at Irvinestown as manager (1945).
Millikin (far left, kneeling) at a Northern Bank outing at the Malone Golf Club, 14 May 1951.
The image and some of the information above is sourced from Gavin Bamford's site honouring the officials of the Northern Bank and Belfast Bank who served during the two World Wars and in more recent conflicts. northernbankwarmemorials.blogspot.com.au