Lance Corporal William James Cleland
William James (Jim) Cleland was born on 27 May 1880 in Canal Street, Newry, County Armagh, the fifth of nine children of grocer William James Cleland and his wife Martha (née McBride). He later moved to Belfast where he worked as a carpenter. At some point he enlisted in the Royal Engineers, but purchased his discharged after just 61 days.
On 22 January 1900 Cleland enlisted in the 46th (Belfast) Company, Imperial Yeomanry (No.9474). He served in South Africa in the Boer War, where he was made a prisoner in the infamous surrender at Lindley at the end of May 1900. Following his release and return home he joined the Cape Mounted Police.
Further details of his service in South Africa can be found here.
On 29 February 1904 he married Mary Smith in Cape Town. They moved to Ireland the following year. At the time of the 1911 Census they were living at 208 Woodstock Road, Belfast, with two of their three children, William working as a joiner. Another three children would be born over the next eight years.
Cleland enlisted in the North Irish Horse on 7 or 8 September 1914 (No.1158 – later Corps of Hussars No.71256). On 1 May 1915 he embarked for France with D Squadron, which at the time was serving as divisional cavalry to the 51st Division. William's brother Frank was also serving in France, with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. On 29 December that year the Belfast News-Letter reported that:
Mrs. Cleland, 4. Basin Walk, Newry, has received intimation that her son, Private Frank Moore Cleland, 24th Canadian Battalion, was wounded in the thigh in France a few days ago, and is now in hospital in Canterbury. Private Cleland was in Canada for some time prior to the war, and enlisted at Toronto. His brother, Corporal W. J. Cleland, North Irish Horse, who has been long resident in Belfast, has been invalided from the trenches to the Military Hospital, Victoria Barracks, Belfast.
William later returned to his squadron in France, which in May 1916 came together with A and E Squadrons to form the 1st North Irish Horse Regiment, serving as corps cavalry to VII, XIX, then V Corps. In January 1918 he was one of sixteen men of the 1st NIH Regiment who transferred to the Tank Corps (No.305668).
He remained with the Tank Corps until the end of he war. He was discharged on 26 February 1919 and granted a partial pension due to disabilities attributed to his war service. At some time later he and his family emigrated to Canada, before moving to the United States.
Cleland's name appears on the document Newry's Roll of Honour.
Image from the Belfast Telegraph, 27 March 1900.
This page last updated 21 September 2026.