Corporal Samuel Stott
Samuel Stott was born on 22 November 1873 at More Street, Accrington, Lancashire, the only child of stonemason Miles Stott and his wife Mary (née Quinn). By the time of the 1891 Census he was living with his parents at 59 Handel Street, Liverpool, and working as a portmanteau maker. The following year, on 1 May, he married Janet Muir Pettigrew at St Nicholas Church in Liverpool. The couple had ten children over the next 22 years – two in England, two in Cork, and six in Belfast, where they moved around 1898. By the time of the 1911 Census Samuel was living at 19A Donegall Pass, Belfast, with his mother, his wife and their children, and working at his trade as a portmanteau maker.
Stott enlisted in the North Irish Horse on 7 October 1914 (No.1283 – later Corps of Hussars No.71321). He was forty years old at the time. He trained at the regiment's Antrim reserve depot before embarking for France sometime between 1916 and 1918, possibly with E Squadron on 11 January 1916.
Stott remained with the regiment through much of the war, though how much time he spent in France and Belgium and how much at the Antrim depot is not known at present. In 1918 he was transferred to the Labour Corps (No.419977).
Following his demobilisation in 1919, Stott was granted a pension as a result of some form of debility attributed to his military service. He returned to his home at 19A Donegall Pass and resumed work as a portmanteau maker.
Stott's eldest son Miles also served in the war, in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. He died of wounds on 24 November 1917 and is buried in the Croisilles British Cemetery.