Private Herbert Short
The background of this North Irish Horseman is not clear, other than that he was born around 1887 and that he was from England or Wales. The War Office Daily Casualty list states that he was from Penarth, Glamorgan.
Herbert Short was attested into the army on 11 December 1915. At the time he was working as a mail driver for the GPO in Poole, Dorset. Mobilised on 23 May 1916 at Dorchester, it appears that he was posted to the Dorset Yeomanry, then the 2/1 Staffordshire Yeomanry at the 3rd Reserve Regiment of Cavalry at Aldershot, where in 1917 he was assigned Corps of Hussars regimental number 301146.
Short embarked for France on 11 December 1917. There he was posted to the 1/1 Leicestershire Yeomanry, but four days later was sent to the British Base Cavalry Depot. On 14 January 1918 he was posted to the 1st North Irish Horse Regiment, which was then serving as corps cavalry to V Corps.
In February-March 1918 the regiment was dismounted and converted to a cyclist unit, serving as corps cyclists to V Corps until the end of the war.
On 26 August 1918, while serving with the 1st NIH cyclists, Short was wounded in the back on the Somme front during the opening phase of the Advance to Victory offensive. After treatment at the 32nd Stationary Hospital at Wimereux, on 2 September he was evacuated to the UK, where he was admitted to the Norfolk War Hospital at Thorpe, and then the 3rd Western General Hospital (Newport Section).
Short's wound healed well, and on 13 December 1918 he was discharged, fit for Class III employment. On 21 January 1919 he was discharged from the army as 'surplus to military requirements, having suffered impairment since entry into the service' (paragraph 392 xvi(a), King's Regulations). (Note: according to his service file he was demobilised and transferred to Class Z, Army Reserve, on that date.) His military character was recorded as 'very good'.
Records show that soon after the war Short was living at 7 Drybridge Terrace, Monmouth.
This page last updated 20 December 2022.