Derek Johnstone has provided the following:
John James Conlon was born in 1881 at Willington, County Durham. His parents were Bernard Conlon from Ireland and Rose Conlon from Willington.
At the age of 10, in 1891, John was living with his parents at 17, Frederick Street, Brandon, Durham, where his father was a coal miner. Siblings in the house at this time included Mary 7, Alice 4 and Rose aged 2.
In 1901 John was living as a boarder at 1, Ridley’s Gardens, Prudhoe, Hexham. He was 20 years old, single and working as a hewer in the coal mines.
In 1905, John married Margaret Hennessey from Houghton-le-Spring at Gateshead.
The 1911 Census shows John and his family living at 80, Blythe Street, Denaby Main, Rotherham, in Yorkshire, where he was employed as a coal miner. At this time John was 30 and his wife Margaret was 25 and they had one son, William who was two years old.
Military records include his Pension Index Card showing his wife Margaret and children William, Mary and John James. John enlisted at Newcastle and was in A Company (10 Platoon). Information from John Sheen's Tyneside Irish book indicates John to be living at 32, Elswick East Terrace, Newcastle, before enlisting.
John Conlon is included in our list of Tyneside Irish