William John McNabney

William John McNabney served in the Royal Engineers, Ulster Division during The Great War. He died during the Second World War having suffered from his war injuries for many years. Born on 1st October 1883 he was the son of Robert McNabney and Margaret McNabney of Ballymena, Co. Antrim.

William’s siblings were Sarah McNabney born on 4th March 1885, Jane McNabney born on 9th January 1887, Keziah McNabney born on 4th March 1890, Minnie McNabney born on 20th July 1892. The family lived at 52 Ohio Street, Belfast according to the 1911 Irish Census before William moved from Ballymena to Belfast.

William married Margaret Walker on 11th September 1912 in Crumlin Road Methodist Church, Belfast. The couple had 3 children, Ernest Harold William McNabney born on 2nd December 1912, Thomas John McNabney born on 30th December 1914, and Myra Agnes McNabney born on 1st January 1919. William was a carpenter or a joiner before the outbreak of The Great War.

In October 1915, McNabney joined the Royal Engineers, Ulster Division and departed for France. There, he took part in the Battle of the Somme. After The Great War, he ran a timber yard at the Crumlin Road end of Cliftonpark Avenue, Belfast. He also built houses on Serpentine Road off the Antrim Road, Belfast, and in Larne, Co. Antrim. The McNabney family later lived at 158 Cliftonpark Avenue, Belfast.

Because of injuries sustained between 1914 and 1918, he spent long periods of his later life in the Ulster Volunteer Force Hospital at Craigavon House, Belfast. William died on 6th January 1941 aged 57 years old at the U.V.F. Hospital. The cause of death was “war wounds sustained in The Great War”. His son Thomas McNabney had died less than 6 months earlier on 4th July 1940 on board H.M.S. Foylebank in Portland Bill during the Battle of Britain.

William John McNabney’s grave is in Section A, Grave 750 of Belfast City Cemetery, Belfast. A funeral service took place on 9th January 1941.