Morpeth Herald 18/05/1917 carries a brief obituary:
ROLL OF HONOUR
BROWN.- Died of wounds, in the 11th General Hospital, at Cannes, France, Able Seaman John George Brown, X91 [sic], R.N.D., beloved husband of Margaret Brown, of Hirst, Ashington.
Margaret Allison reports:
Able Seaman Brown was living with his wife Margaret at 38½ Poplar Street, Ashington, in 1911. He was aged 23 when he died.
Colin Boyd has submitted the following:
John was born in October 1893 and was working as a miner living at 72, Woodhorn Road, Ashington when he enlisted in the Northumberland Fusiliers on September 3rd 1914.
He transferred to the RNVR on September 9th 1914 and was posted to the Nelson Battalion serving in Gallipoli until he was invalided to the UK on September 18th 1915 suffering from pyrexia and neurasthenia.
On November 26th 1916 he joined the Drake Battalion in France where he served with the Trench Mortar Battery until going sick again with pyrexia on January 18th 1917. After rejoining the Battalion on February 24th 1917 he was seriously wounded on April 23rd 1917. The wound he suffered to his face and scalp was so severe that he was originally posted as killed in action on that date. In fact John died at 9:30 am on May 12th 1917 at the 11th General Hospital.
John George Brown is remembered in Ashington on A17.01 (A17.27) and A17.43