Private William James Millar
The only reference to this man's service in the North Irish Horse is a Roll of Honour published in the Mid-Ulster Mail on 2 January 1915 listing members of the Church of Ireland's Derryloran Parish, Cookstown, who were serving in the armed forced. Millar is among three said to be serving in the North Irish Horse, his address given as Oldtown.
William James Millar was born on 18 May 1882 in Oldtown Street, Cookstown, County Tyrone, the fourth of twelve children of car-owner Samuel Millar and his wife Annie (née Sloan). At the time of the 1901 Census he was living in Oldtown Street with his recently-widowed mother, six of his siblings and an aunt, and was working as a postman.
By 1906 he had moved to Belfast, living at 18 Woodstock Road, and was working as a cycle agent. On 13 July that year he married Selina Hull in the University Road Methodist Church. At the time of the 1911 Census the couple were living in Woodstock Road with their two children, William working as a 'cycle motor agent'.
Millar probably enlisted in the North Irish Horse in the months following the outbreak of war in August 1914. Soon after, however, he must have transferred to the infantry – the record on the birth of his third child on 23 December gives his occupation as 'lance sergeant, Royal Irish Rifles' and his address as the Ballykinlar Camp.
To date, no further details have been discovered about his military service.
He died at 26 Ulsterville Gardens, Belfast, on 10 January 1940, and was buried in the City Cemetery.
This page last updated 3 June 2025.