Shoeing Smith William Herron
William Herron (or Heron) was born on 27 July 1892 at Ballyhenry, Comber, County Down, the fourth of eleven children of farmer John Moore Herron and his wife Grace (née Whitla). By the time of the 1911 Census he was living at Ballyaltikilligan, Comber, at the home of his uncle, farmer Robert Horner, his wife and their eight children, and William's brother Samuel and sisters Ellen and Sarah. His widowed father and four more siblings were living at nearby Ballyhenry.
Herron probably enlisted in the North Irish Horse on 3 November 1915 (No.1792 – later Corps of Hussars No.71561), with his cousin from Ballyaltikilligan, Jacob Horner. (Note: Herron's Corps of Hussars number is the same as Horner's. This appears to have been a clerical error.)
He trained at the regiment's Antrim reserve camp before embarking for France between 1916 and 1918. There he was posted to one of the squadrons of the 1st North Irish Horse Regiment. This regiment served as corps cavalry to VII, XIX, then V Corps from its establishment in May 1916 until February-March 1918, when it was dismounted and converted to a cyclist unit, serving as corps cyclists to V Corps until the end of the war.
Herron remained with the regiment throughout the war. On 1 March 1919 he was demobilised and transferred to Class Z, Army Reserve.
One of Herron's brothers, Samuel, also served in the war, in the Royal Irish Rifles.