Sergeant William Henry Clendining, MM
William Henry Clendining (or Clendinning) was born on 30 June 1888 at Lisbellaw, County Fermanagh, the third of five children of farmer and hotel keeper Robert Clendining and his wife Margaret (formerly Black, nee Rutledge). At the time of the 1911 Census he was living at Cloghcor, Derrybrusk, County Fermanagh, with his parents, two of his three surviving siblings, a half sister and another relative.
Clendining enlisted in the North Irish Horse on 3 or 4 March 1914 (No.916 – later Corps of Hussars No.71157). On 9 February 1915 he embarked for France as part of a small reinforcement draft for A and C Squadrons. Clendining was posted to A Squadron.
'A' Squadron had seen action on the retreat from Mons and advance to the Aisne, before serving as escort and bodyguard to the BEF's commander-in-chief at St Omer. In January 1916 it was posted as divisional cavalry to the 55th Division. In May 1916 the squadron came together with E and D Squadrons to form the 1st North Irish Horse Regiment, serving as corps cavalry to VII, XIX, then V Corps until February-March 1918, when the regiment was dismounted and converted to a cyclist unit. It then served as corps cyclists to V Corps until the end of the war.
Clendining remained with the squadron in France and Belgium throughout the war.
On 18 May 1916 the Fermanagh Times carried a report of an interview with Lance Corporal McCombe of the 11th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, which included the following reference:
About three weeks ago they were visited in the trenches by three of the North Irish Horse lads who had cycled some twenty miles with the sole purpose of seeing their Fermanagh friends. One of these visitors was young Clendinning of Lisbellaw.
In early 1919 he was one of a number of North Irish Horsemen awarded a Military Medal for gallantry during the Advance to Victory offensive from August to November 1918.
He was transferred to Class Z, Army Reserve, on 25 February 1919.
He died on 6 March 1966 in the Enniskillen County Hospital and was buried in the Derryvullan South Parish Churchyard, Tamlaght, Lisbellaw.
At least one of Clendining's brothers, Hamilton Clendining, also served in the war, in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, having before the war served in the North Irish Horse. Awarded a Military Medal and Bar and Mentioned in Despatches, he was severely wounded at Arras in 1918.
Cemetery image sourced from the Find a Grave website, via Robert Mitchell.
This page last updated 9 July 2026.