MAHAFFY, Henry Irwin

Second Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps
Date of Death: 22/10/1917
Age: 23

 Interred in Bangor Cemetery

Henry Irwin Mahaffy was born in Ward Villa West, Bangor, on 7 September 1894. He was the son of William Irwin Mahaffy, a solicitor, and his wife Jane (nee Machett) a native of Australia where they married in 1893. He was the eldest of their six children.

He attended Bangor Grammar School and September 1911 became apprenticed to his father who had offices in Calendar Street, Belfast, and had been appointed as Town Solicitor of Bangor in 1901.

Henry, who also played rugby for Bangor, enlisted on the formation of the Ulster Division and served in France with the 13th Battlion, Royal Irish Rifles.

In February 1917, he returned home and qualified for a commission in the Royal Flying Corps and was gazetted as 2nd Lieutenant in May and was stationed at Salisbury Plain.

However, just five months later, in October 1917, Henry was to tragically lose his life in a training flight.

His father travelled to England and returned Henry's body to Bangor for interment.

His younger brother William, was later killed in the Second World War while serving with the Royal Air Force.