Photo: Berenice Baynham

Photo: Berenice Baynham

Private James Walter ALDRIDGE

He was a Musical Director residing at 68 Falmouth Road, Heaton, Newcastle on Tyne. He was Initiated into 1427 Percy Lodge, Masonic Hall, Maple Street, Newcastle on Tyne on the 19th December 1916 aged 26; Passed 16th January 1917 and Raised on the 20th February 1917. According to the Lodge Minutes he was injured in September 1918 and died on the 2nd April 1919.

Editor’s Note:

His name appears on the UGL Roll of Honour but there is no casualty listing for him. He is remembered on a Memorial in the Parish Church of St Barnabas, Sandyford Road, Newcastle on Tyne J1.42. This Memorial is now situated in St. George’s Drill Hall, Sandyford Road, Newcastle on Tyne.

Berenice Baynham writes:

Re. Private Aldridge, there is a family gravestone/memorial at Nab Wood Cemetery, Shipley, West Riding of Yorkshire, bearing his name. The transcription relating to him reads:-

J. Walter Aldridge
A.R.C.M. A.R.C.O.
Cpl. Nrn. Cyclists Btt.
son of Samuel and
Elizabeth Aldridge,
of Manningham,
who died April 2nd 1919,
aged 29 years.

No CWGC entry for Pte. Aldridge can be found.