Ralph W. Coulson
Paul Heatherington has submitted the following:-
Ralph was born in the summer of 1886 at Greenhead, Whittonstall, Northumberland. He was the third child of Joseph Nevin Coulson, from Greenside, and Alice Ann (née Wheatley) from Bradley Cottages. The first two children in the family were John and Alice. Elizabeth, Norman and William came later. In 1891, the family were living at Greenhead, where the father was a ‘roadman’.
By 1901 they had moved to 20 Wood Street, Shotley Bridge. At the age of fourteen, Ralph was already working underground.
In 1908, Ralph married Kathleen Laydon, from Jarrow. In 1911, they were living in two rooms at 24 Wood Street. Their son, Norman, was two years old. Daughter, Margaret, was born in 1912 and son, Ralph, in 1914.
Ralph enlisted at Chopwell and became a Private in the 1st/6th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry.
He was killed in action in France on the 24th January 1917.
Ralph Wheatley Coulson is remembered at Shotley Bridge on S27.01, S27.03 and S27.06
He is also remembered in The DLI Book of Remembrance page 12
