Photo: Geordie at War Project
O. Hearty
Northumberland Fusiliers
23rd July 1916 age 39
R.I.P.
John Harty has supplied the following:
25/249 Private Owen Hearty, 'D' Company, 25th Battalion (2nd Battalion Tyneside Irish), Royal Northumberland Fusiliers.
My great-great-great-uncle Owen Hearty was born in Gateshead on Tyne in 1877, at number 70 Chandless Street (East Central ward). Owen’s father was Bernard Hearty, his mother was Catherine Dooley. His dad Bernard was born in Armagh, Northern Ireland. Owen was named after his grandfather, Owen Hearty who also lived in Armagh. Owen’s mother, Catherine, was born in Kilkenny, Louth, Northern Ireland. Owen’s parents were married in 1870 in Dundalk. In the early 1870s they moved to Gateshead on Tyne to set up a new life for themselves.
Owen joined the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers in 1915. Once he had done his training he went on the front line at the Battle of the Somme.
It was on the 1st of July 1916 the British soldiers got killed in their thousands. Private Owen was one the soldiers badly injured, on the 3rd of July 1916, and was evacuated from the front line and made his way home to number 23, Monk Street, East Gateshead.
Sadly, on the 23rd of July 1916, Owen lost his life. He was at home with his wife Margaret and two daughters, Catherine and Margaret.
Owen, before he joined the army, was a coal porter for the local Co-op in Gateshead. It was very hard for Owen’s family seeing him suffering with his war wounds but they were with him right up to the last minute.
Owen Hearty, my great-great-great-uncle, is buried in the East Gateshead Cemetery along with many more casualties from World War One.
The family history goes that the ‘e’ in the family name Hearty got lost around the 1900s.
Owen in his short life had married twice, had two daughters, and had lost 4 children. His mother Catherine died aged 54 in 1900, also his older brother Brian died in 1905 aged only 29. Owen’s father Bernard re-married in 1902 to Mary Charlton, this was in Gateshead on Tyne.
Private Owen Hearty you will be never forgotten - you are our great hero - God bless you.
John Harty, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.
