In memoriam
Private Charles Henry McDaniel
Charles Henry McDaniel was born on 14 May 1898 at 8 Rosemount Road, North Dublin, the third of five children of commission agent Charles McDaniel and his wife Charlotte Emily (nee Commins). His father died when Charles was 15 years old.
McDaniel enlisted in the North Irish Horse at Antrim between 2 February and 17 May 1916 (regimental number between 2113 and 2151 – later Corps of Hussars No.71700). In January 1918 he embarked for Egypt with a draft of North Irish Horsemen from the regimental reserved depot at Antrim. There he was attached to the 1/1st Staffordshire Yeomanry (Queen's Own Royal Regiment), serving with that regiment in the Palestine campaign.
On 15 October 1918 McDaniel died of an illness at Damascus (the regimental diary notes many men dying in hospital at this time). He was buried in the Damascus Commonwealth War Cemetery, Syria, grave A.36. His gravestone inscription reads:
71700 PRIVATE
C. H. MC DANIEL
Q.O.R.R. STAFFORDSHIRE YEO.
15TH OCTOBER 1918
Private McDaniel's older brother John Vigne McDaniel also served in the war, as a sapper in the Royal Engineers.
Great War Memorial, All Saints Church, Constitution Hill, Dublin
Damascus image kindly provided by Steve Rogers, Project Co-ordinator of the The War Graves Photographic Project, www.twgpp.org. All Saints images sourced from the Irish War Memorials website.