McBride, William
Rifleman
No. 19/794, ‘B’ Company, 13th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action on Thursday 16 August 1917 (aged 29)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium (Panel 138 to 140 & 162 to 162 A & 163 A)
Journey of Remembering Belfast Book of Honour
BIOGRAPHY
In the Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 – 1919 database it is recorded that Rifleman William McBride (No. 19/794) was born in Belfast, lived in Newtownards and enlisted in Belfast.
In the 17 August 1918 edition of the Newtownards Chronicle it was reported that Mrs Eliza Jane McBride of 33 Movilla Street, Newtownards had received official notification that her husband, Rifleman William McBride (No. 794), who had been reported missing on 16 August 1917, must now be presumed to have been killed on that date or since. Rifleman William McBride was reported to be 27 years old when he died, and it was stated that, prior to the outbreak of the Great War, he worked as a labourer in the shipyard at Queen’s Island, Belfast.
William McBride enlisted on 6 December 1916 in Belfast and served with the 13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in 108th Brigade of the 36th (Ulster) Division. He had only been in the trenches for a few months when he was killed in action on 16 August 1917 at Langemarck during the Third Battle of Ypres.
The newspaper report stated that he left behind a wife and family to mourn his loss.
Eliza Jane McBride of 33 Movilla Street, Newtownards placed an In Memoriam notice in the 17 August 1918 edition of the Newtownards Chronicle. It was inserted by ‘his sorrowing wife and family’.
There is evidence to suggest that in 1911 William McBride was boarding with James and Mary Jane Buckley at 45 Witham Street, Belfast and that on 23 October 1912 William McBride and their daughter Eliza Jane Buckley (aged 19) were married in Megain Memorial Presbyterian Church. William McBride, then living at 48 Tamar Street, Belfast stated that he was a son of William McBride, a labourer.
A William McBride was born on 20 May 1888 at 17 Eighth Street, Belfast and he was a son of Maggie McBride, a weaver.
William and Eliza Jane McBride (nee Buckley) had at least two children:
James (born 13 May 1914 ay 61 Tamar Street, Belfast)
John (born 1 October 1915 at 106 Trillick Street, Belfast)
Rifleman William McBride (No. 19/794) has no known grave and he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium and in the Journey of Remembering Belfast Book of Honour.