Thiepval Memorial
Pauline Priano has submitted the following:-
James Watson was born November 17th 1887 in Kimblesworth, County Durham, the eldest son and one of 9 children, 3 boys, 4 girls and 2 deceased (gender unknown), born to coal miner-hewer, James Watson Snr 1860 Spittle Tongues, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland and his wife Mary, native of Oakenshaw, County Durham, born 1864. At the age of 23 James Jnr, still living with his parents at 27, Thomas Street, Craghead, was working as a hewer at the colliery and along with his father was the only bread-winner in the family. In 1913 James married Blanche Smith in the district of Lanchester, it is possible they may have had a son, James born in 1915.
James Watson enlisted at the outbreak of war in 1914, assigned to the Royal Marines Medical Unit as Able Seaman ‘Deal” 3505 attached to the Royal Navy Division. As did their counterparts in the British Army the Royal Navy Medical Units travelled with their Battalions. March 11th 1915 “Deal” Battalion arrived aboard, “Alnwick Castle” at Lemnos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea where there was a hospital unit to deal with the casualties from the Gallipoli Campaign. The Division including Deal Battalion and the R. N. Medical Corp sailed from Lemnos for Egypt but were diverted to Port Said to defend the Suez Canal at Kantara, returning to Lemnos in April. April 29th 1916 the Division transferred from the authority of the Admiralty to the War Office and was renamed as the 63rd Royal Naval Division and moved to France, arriving at Marseilles 12-23 May 1916 remaining on the Western Front.
Able Seaman “Deal” 3505 James Watson Royal Marines Medical Unit, R. N. D., died or was killed as a direct result of enemy action, November 13th 1916 on the Somme. His sacrifice is recorded pier and face 1A on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, Somme, France. The memorial records the names of 72,246 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South Africa who perished on the Somme 1916-1918 and who have no known grave.
His widow Blanche received all monies due to him, a pension and his awards of the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal, sent to 2 William Street, Craghead, his parents were living at 14 Lambton Terrace, Craghead, County Durham.
In God’s safe keeping. Rest In Peace.
James Watson is remembered at Craghead on C120.01 and C120.04 and in Gateshead on G39.030
