Colin McMillan has provided the following:
Although the CWGC have this man as a Private, he is shown as a lance corporal on the Cenotaph at Morpeth and he is undoubtedly the same man.
He was the nephew of Miss Margaret Sproat and the grandson of another Margaret Sproat who was the head of the household at 11 Tenter Terrace. He was Anthony Dunn who, at one time, served as 3865 Private Dunn, A in the Northumberland Fusiliers but was Private 42581 of the 1st Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment when he died on 8th August 1918 aged 26.
On 23rd August 1918 the Morpeth Herald reported as follows:
ROLL OF HONOUR. DUNN. – Killed in action, August 8th, 1918, aged 25 years, grandson of Mrs. Sproat, 11 Tenter Terrace, Morpeth.
In 1911 the family household consisted of eight people. Margaret Sproat senior was the 84 year old head, a widow born in Clayton, Hartburn, Northumberland and her occupation was given as “Private means”. Living with her were two daughters, Mary Ann Sproat, 59 and Margaret Sproat junior, 44. Both were single and also living on private means and both were born in Netherwitton. Next in order of age was Anthony Dunn, a market gardener, “worker”, i.e. employed rather than an employer, and born in the Parish of Dalton. He is described as Margaret Sproat’s grandson and the CWGC have him as the nephew of “Miss Margaret Sproat”. Could he therefore be the son of Mary Ann Sproat? He was 19 in 1911 and so she would have been 40 at the time of his birth. There were two other grandchildren: 17 year old Margaret Dunn was a shop assistant working in the “china etc” industry and 14 year old William Dunn who, like his brother, was a market gardener. The younger siblings were also born in the Dalton parish. The final two members of the household were boarders; 37 year old Joseph Richardson was born in Lanchester, County Durham and was employed as a chief clerk for the N.E. Railway. 32 year old Morpeth born Duncan Matheson was a nurseryman and described as an employer. It is interesting to speculate why Duncan, an employer, was not living with his father and siblings in 1911 in Oldgate, where the nursery business was founded, as he was there in 1901.
Anthony Dunn is remembered in Morpeth on M17.01 and M17.09
Is he the "A.Dunn" named in Netherwitton School N6.04?
