He was born Amble, and enlisted in Newcastle.
Jen Dobson has provided the following:
He served with the 23rd (Tyneside Scottish) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. Matthew was born in July of 1894 in Amble, Northumberland and was the son of John Burge and Margaret Stewart. Matthew had a large family - 5 siblings: Florence, William Robert, Nora and John Henry, as well as an elder half sibling from him Mother named Jane Rutter. In 1906 sadly Matthew’s Mother died leaving her children to be raised by their Father. In 1909 John Burge married a lady named Elizabeth Richardson nee Campbell and Matthew gained a Step-Brother named Colin Campbell Richardson. In 1910 another half sibling was added to Matthew’s family when Elizabeth gave birth to a little boy they named Joseph Burge.
In 1911 Matthew was working alongside his Father as a Driver in a Coal Mine in Northumberland. In July 1915, aged just 20, Matthew married his Childhood sweetheart, Mary Jane Short, in Alnwick, Northumberland. Only a few short months later, on the 20th of January 1916, a son was born named Matthew Burge after his father. Heartbreakingly, a little over a year since his son’s birth and almost 2 years after his marriage, on the 29th of April 1917, Matthew was killed in Battle.
"By the Green of the Spring" A tribute to the men of Chevington and Broomhill who served in the First World War:; J.H. Hardy; 2004; Amble Social History Group.
Matthew Burge is remembered in Chevington on C27.01 and C27.02, in Amble on A13.01, A13.03 and A13.07, in theAlnwick Gazette Almanack page 41, and in Ulgham on U1.01
