Photo: Derek Haynes

Derek Haynes has submitted the following:

To date I have been unable to find information on John’s early life. From details of his Army service he would have been born around 1877. It is known that his father’s name was also John.

John, the father, married Mary Bruce on the 23rd December 1895 in the registration district of Newcastle. They went on to have eight children:
Mary Ann was born June Q 1896 Newcastle T.
Honara Mary was born March Q 1898 Newcastle T.
James was born December Q 1899 Newcastle T.
John was born 20th July 1903 in Newcastle and baptised 9th August 1903 at St. Mary’s Church, Newcastle.
Isaac was born 5th July 1905 in Newcastle and baptised 9th August 1905 at St. Mary’s Church, Newcastle.
Catherine was born 2nd June 1908 in Southwick, Co. Durham and baptised 28th June 1908 at St. Hilda’s Church, Southwick.
Robert was born 29th March 1911 in Southwick, Co. Durham and baptised 20th April 1911 at St. Hilda’s Church, Southwick.
Christina was born 5th January 1915 in Southwick.

At the time the 1901 census was taken we find John’s wife Mary and three children living in three rooms at 5 Dog Leap Terrace in the parish of St. Nicholas in Newcastle with her parents James and Mary Bruce. Why John was not with his family is not known, but Mary had taken employment in a Rabbit Down Works (Fur Trade). It could be John had moved away to find employment: there is a John Mudie on the 1901 Scottish census boarding with a family named Tolmie in Partick, Lanarkshire.

Sometime between 1905 and 1908 the family moved from Newcastle to Southwick, as in 1908 Catherine was born in Southwick.

By 1911 John, Mary and their seven children are living in two rooms at 8 Mallaburn Terrace, Southwick. Both parents are employed, John as a coal miner and Mary in Marine Stores. It would appear that Mary Ann, the oldest of the children at home (14 years) is responsible for the day to day running of the home and taking care of her siblings. Robert the youngest child is one month old.

On the 15th December 1914, John, aged 37 years, swore allegiance to King George V. He joined the 3rd Yorkshire Regiment at Richmond, Yorkshire as a Private with the service no. 18569. John’s height was given as 5 feet 3½ inches, with a chest measurement of 35 inches, no weight is recorded. His time with the Yorkshires was to be short lived. On the 15th February 1915, while stationed at West Hartlepool, he was medically examined by B. Martin, M.D. who stated that John was senile with a defective intelligence and dirty habits. Because of this report on the 19th July 1915 he was discharged as not being likely to become an efficient soldier. Only two record sheets of John’s time in the Yorkshire Regiment survived and these were concerned with when he first enlisted and his discharge.

An error can be seen on John’s discharge sheet, enlisting when he was aged 37 years, his discharge sheet records his age as 27 years.

It would seem John’s senility and defective intelligence was not a problem to him enlisting later in the War. On the 4th of June 1915 he enlisted into the 26th (Tyneside Irish) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers; his service number was 26/1451. He was then transferred to the 85th Battalion Training Reserve (TR/5/61236). Sadly on the 26th February 1916 in Sedgefield Asylum at the age of 39 years he passed away. The cause of death given was General Paralysis. His home address at the time was 10 Thirlwell Terrace, Southwick.

On the 2nd of March 1916 John was laid to rest in Section 2, Grave 342 of Southwick Cemetery. A CWGC headstone marks his final resting place.Inscribed at the base of the stone are the words: ON WHOSE SOUL / SWEET JESUS HAVE MERCY.

It is not known if Mary received a War pension; she had 7 children to raise on her own, the youngest being Christina who was 1 year old when her father died. These would have been very worrying times for the family. In the December Q of 1918 in Sunderland Mary remarried, this was to Christopher Ryan. If Mary had received a pension this would have stopped when she married Christopher.

John Mudie is remembered in Sunderland on S140.048 page 267, as John Murdie on S140.048 page 57 and in Peter Gibson's book

The CWGC entry for Private Mudie