General Sir James Stuart Steele served in The Great War and the Second World War. Born at Leafield Farm, Ballycarry, Co. Antrim in 1894, he had a distinguished career in the British Army. He never forgot his home village and after his death, residents erected a permanent memorial.
An inscription on the memorial reads:
Erected at the behest of the people of Ballycarry in honour and memory of General Sir James Stuart Steele, K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O., M.C., L.L.D., born at Leafield Farm in this village on October 26th 1894.
During a distinguished military career, he served at Messines, Ypres, the Somme, and on the North West Frontier in the Great War 1914-1918.
In the Second World War, he signed the Mobilisation Order, which set the nation on a war footing in 1939. James Steele was among those evacuated from Dunkirk and one of those who drew up the plans for the D-Day Landings in Normandy in June 1944.
In 1946 he was appointed British High Commissioner for Austria. In peacetime, he continued to serve with honour, most notably as Adjutant General in 1947, and Colonel of the Royal Ulster Rifles in 1947-1957.
When he died in 1975, his last wish was for his ashes to be interred in the village he never forgot and which will always cherish his memory and his example as a Noble Son of this Community.
