Colin McMillan has provided the following:
George Arthur Blackhall was born in or about 1892. He was one of four surviving children born to Alexander Blackhall and Elizabeth Blackhall, as the 1891 census showed a 1 year old child, William, who was no longer with them.
10 years later, Alexander was born in Morpeth and in 1901 was a 34 year old pattern maker. Elizabeth was born in Durham and at the time of the census was 33. Their oldest child was Alexander junior, a 13 year old telegraph messenger. George was the next oldest at 9 and there were two younger children: Mary was 6 and Nelly was 4. All the siblings were born in Morpeth. Also living with them were Alexander’s father-in-law, 57 year old widower William Cowan, a saddler, and two brothers-in-law: 13 year old Robert Cowan, a green grocer’s assistant, and 11 year old Thomas. They were living at Lumsdens lane, Morpeth.
The 1911 census showed that Alexander and Elizabeth, now 44 and 43 respectively, had had nine children of whom six survived and were all living with them. Alexander junior was 23 and a postman, George was 19 and a coal miner “pony putter”. Mary, now Mary Lizzie, was 17 and Nelly, inexplicably now Ellen was 14 and still at school. Two more children were now part of the family: 6 year old Ernest Blackhall and 1 year old Jessie Blackhall. The family were living at 29 Alexandria Road, Morpeth.
We don’t know where or exactly when George joined the army but it must have been sometime in 1915 as one of the medals he was awarded was the 1914/15 Star, the others being the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He fought with the 14th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (service number 10059) and died on 21st August 1918. He is buried in the Sissonne British Cemetery, France.
George Arthur Blackhall is remembered in Morpeth on M17.01 and M17.09
