Bedlington Soldiers Who Died in the Great War Summaries of the Brave Soldiers from Bedlington and the Surrounding Area Who Did Not Return from the 1914 – 1918 War
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Bedlington Soldiers Who Died in the Great War Summaries of the brave soldiers from Bedlington and the surrounding area who did not return from the 1914 – 1918 War This document was complied by Derek Johnstone to honour these soldiers using information from the Record of Enlistments book which is held at St Cuthbert’s Church at Bedlington, Northumberland. Contents INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 2 Dedication ........................................................................................................................................... 2 Record of Enlistments ......................................................................................................................... 2 Information Sources ............................................................................................................................ 2 Statistics and Facts .............................................................................................................................. 3 BEDLINGTON SOLDIERS WHO DIED IN THE GREAT WAR ........................................................................ 5 Alphabetical List of Soldiers Names .................................................................................................... 5 Summaries of Bedlington Soldiers .................................................................................................... 12 APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................................... 53 Streets and Houses in Bedlington where the Soldiers Lived ............................................................ 53 Main Regiments in which the Bedlington Soldiers Served ............................................................... 56 Photographs of Streets where the Soldiers Lived ............................................................................. 58 Selection of Photographs of Soldiers from Bedlington ..................................................................... 58 Expanded Histories ........................................................................................................................... 63 Joseph Thomas Orange ................................................................................................................. 63 John William Nordstrom ............................................................................................................... 65 Isaac Whitfield Hunter .................................................................................................................. 67 McCarthy Brothers ........................................................................................................................ 70 James Dixon’s Family .................................................................................................................... 72 1 INTRODUCTION Bedlington would have been like other town in Britain in 1914 when the Great War broke out. Its men would have been eager to join up to a war which they believed would be short and exciting, but it was not. They believed it would be over by Christmas that year but it dragged on for five long years; it devastated families with the loss of loved ones, it affected the lives of all those who suffered with life changing injuries, both physical and mental. This work, complied by Derek Johnstone, covers only those soldiers from Bedlington who died in the Great War and were recorded in the Record of Enlistments held at St Cuthbert Church. It also recognises all the other brave men who enlisted from around Britain and the Commonwealth. Dedication This dedication goes primarily to my grandfathers, William Bruce Johnstone MM who died on 9th October 1917 in the Third Battle Ypres at the age of 27 and John James Hunter who was wounded and returned. As with lots of families and individuals in the period before, during and after the Great War there were many tragedies. Our family was no different. My father, George Jordan Johnstone, the only surviving son of William Bruce Johnstone MM, was born in 1912. In the first five years of life his great grandfather, William Johnstone, an ex-landlord of the Anvil inn at Guide Post died in 1914 and then his mother Jane Jordan Johnstone died as did his younger brother William Hedley Wheatley Johnstone both in 1915. Finally, his father died in 1917. George Jordan Johnstone was then brought up by his aunt Margaret Wheatley Harvey and he lived his early years with his cousins. Details about Grandfather John James Hunter were relatively unknown to our family and only came to light following this research. Record of Enlistments The main reference document for this work is the Record of Enlistments which is a hardbound volume listing the names of those who served in the Great War from Bedlington and surrounding area and contains 141 handwritten pages, each entry spread across two sheets. The document contains over 1,000 names of those enlisting with details including addresses, ranks and sphere of service. Additionally it records whether they fell or returned. The Record of Enlistments was compiled by Mr W. Miller, one of the masters of the Whitley CE School, Bedlington and is held in the Memorial Chapel of St Cuthbert’s Church Bedlington where it is kept chained in a recess in the West wall. It should be remembered the Record of Enlistments does not contain all the names of the men from Bedlington and surrounding area who enlisted, there were many more that died or were wounded. The original Record of Enlistment has been transcribed and is available on the North East War Memorial Project (NEWMP) website. It has also been transcribed (alphabetically) by the Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn. Additionally, if those who died were miners their names were placed on the Bedlington and Netherton Coal Companies Rolls of Honour (ROH) for the First World War. Information Sources The starting point and the main source of information for this work was the Record of Enlistments, details of which have been described above. Some of the information about these soldiers has been expanded and included in the NEWMP website which aims to record every War Memorial between the River Tweed and River Tees. In addition to providing information showing where individuals are commemorated on memorials it also includes information of soldiers in its ‘Every Name A Story Content’ section. Where this has been recorded, for Bedlington soldiers shown in the Record of Enlistments, this valuable source has been used in this document. These accurate stories of individuals have been pulled together by Janet Brown, Carole Fife and others at the NEWMP and the writer is grateful for that help. At this time not all soldiers from Bedlington associated with this work have been included on the NEWMP website and hopefully this document may go some way to prepare the ground to complete this. In addition to referencing the NEWMP website information the following sources were checked to obtain as much information as possible about the soldiers to provide an accurate summary of each individual. These sources include: 1. Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website 2. Ancestry and Family Search websites to establish military records including: 2 UK, Soldiers who Died in the Great War 1914 – 1919 UK, Army Resister of Soldiers Effects 1901 – 1929 In the British Army WW1 Medal Rolls Index Cards British Army WW1 Service Records, 1914 -1920 Pension and Enlistment records 3. Ancestry and Family Search websites to identify civilian records including: Births marriages and deaths Census details Family trees Whilst searching for information it was hoped to include photographs of the soldiers but very few photographs were found. Of the ones found some have been included in this document. Statistics and Facts The figures below have been established from the ‘Record of Enlistments’, as transcribed by the Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn, shows the following statistics associated with the soldiers who enlisted alphabetically. It should be noted the figures shown are approximate values due to the interpretation of the categories contained in the documentation which contains 1019 records. All Categories Killed in Action Died of Wounds Died Wounded Returned 187 6 16 296 513 18.35% 0.59% 1.57% 29.05% 50.34% (Reference - Record of Enlistments – Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn) Further statistical information was extracted from a study of only those killed in action, died of wounds, died of illness or died. This information came from a transcription of the original Record of Enlistments which is available on the North East War Memorial Project (NEWMP) website. The total number was established to be 200 which took into account some duplication of entries which were identified, interpretation of casualty’s categories and other changes. Deaths Only Killed in Action Died of Wounds Died Died from Illness Total 152 33 6 9 200 76% 16.5% 3% 4.5% (Reference - Record of Enlistments following the Derek Johnstone study of deaths only) In one day, July 1st 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, a total of 40 soldiers (20% of the total) from the Bedlington group studied, were killed in action. In addition to this figure many others were wounded on that day and died of their wounds in the following days. From the records checked for this document the oldest Bedlington soldier to die during the Great