Photo: Geordie at War Project
In Gateshead East Cemetery is a family headstone which reads:
In loving memory of
our dear parents
Anne
. . . . . . . . . .July 1960
James Donovan
Beloved husband of above Anne
Killed in action 3rd Oct. 1918
Jesus mercy, Mary help.
R.I.P.
Brenda McMahon submitted the following :-
James was born c 1878 in Hull to his parents John (tobacco merchant) & Mary Donovan.
At the age of 13 he was living at 262 Westgate Road Newcastle and working as a ‘page boy’ to a Dr. John Foggin.
He married Anne Cowan in 1897 and by 1901 was trading as a pedlar.
In 1911 he continued his trade assisted by his wife who was a fish hawker. He had 3 children James, Elizabeth & Edith.
He joined the army at Gateshead serving in 2nd Battalion D.L.I. (service no 4/9629). He was sent to France in December 1915 & was later promoted to the rank of Sergeant.
James was killed in action aged 40 years on 2nd October 1918 although his family headstone shows the date as 3rd. He is buried at Underhill Farm Cemetery in Belgium.
His son, James, also served in the war joining the Machine Gun Corps on 1 March 1916 aged only 18 years. At the end of the war he was discharged without having suffered injury.
James Donovan is remembered at Gateshead on G39.004 and G39.025 and in the D.L.I. Book of Remembrance Page 270
