2nd Lieutenant William John White Carson
Regiment/Service: 14th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles (British Army)
William John White Carson was the son of William McRobert Carson and Sarah Carson. William was born about 1887 in County Down, probably in the Belfast area. William was a student at the Royal School Dungannon between 1900 and 1902. William's father was an Estate Agent on the Ormeau Road, Belfast. William enlisted with the 14th (Young Citizens) Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. The 14th Battalion were drawn from members of the Belfast Ulster Volunteers. By January 1915 William had been gazetted and was now 2nd Lieutenant Carson. 2nd Lieutenant Carson was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916. He was 29 years old.
Cemetery: Thiepval Memorial
Thiepval, Somme,
Grave Ref: Face 15A-15B
CWGC Casualty 1542428
The Thiepval Memorial will be found on the D73, next to the village of Thiepval, off the main Bapaume to Albert road (D929). Each year a major ceremony is held at the memorial on 1 July. The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a war memorial to 72,337 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave. It is near the village of Thiepval, Picardy in France. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, Thiepval has been described as "the greatest executed British work of monumental architecture of the twentieth century"
1 Royal School Dungannon Book 23
1 1901 Census lists Carson family Lists William J W as age 14 living with the family at house 29 in Knock Church Road, Pottinger, Down
2 1911 Census lists Carson family Lists William J W as age 24 living with the family at house 11 in Ormeau Road, Ormeau, Down
3 Belfast Street Directory 1908 Carson, W. M., & CO., Rent Agents, Auctioneers, Brokers, and Property Salesmen, 37 Rosemary Street; Res., Donnybrook, Ormeau Road
4 Imperial War Museum Photo of William J Carson
5 London Gazette - 22/01/1915 2nd Lieut W J W Carson - Supplement: 29048 Page: 784