The son of Mary Ann Lucy Norris formerly Daly and the late John Daly.

John was mobilised from the 21st Lancer reserve and attached to the 9th (Queen’s Royal) Lancers disembarking in France on 15th August 1914 he was killed in action on 29th September

According to the war diary, half of the 17 who were killed were 21st Lancers reservists. They were all buried in Longueval Cemetery B.17.

A letter written by an unidentified Private of the 9th Lancers from Aberdeen, printed in the Lincolnshire Echo, 9th October 1914.

On this date (29th September 1914) a German coal box shell, ("Coal Box." The nickname for a high explosive German shell fired from a 5.9 howitzer which emits a heavy black smoke) landed amongst two troops of the regiment as they dispersed from stables at Longeuval causing many casualties: ‘It was dinner time and we were dispersing from stables when one of their coal boxes dropped right in the middle of the yard and put out nearly two troops of us. Up to then we had nothing but a couple of spare shells, and you get so used to them you take little notice. These big ones, coal boxes as we call them, come whistling along and you get about a second’s notice, so that if you are lucky you have time to duck. But that is pure luck. I heard the whistle and dived between two horses. Then came the explosion, and when I realised where I was afterwards I felt as if a horse had kicked me in the back. When I looked round I saw 13 of our men killed and 11 wounded two so badly that they died afterwards. About twenty horses were killed, but my old horse stood there grazing as quietly as if nothing happened. The sergeant at one side of me was knocked out, and the man on the other was killed as clean as whistle. After that they shelled the cemetery where we were burying our dead, and that brought our casualties up to 45.’

Sources:

www.ancestry.co.uk

21st Lancers Regimental Magazine ‘The Vedette’

9th Lancers War Diary