In Gateshead East Cemetery is the Commonwealth War Grave of :

646490 Driver
J. Collingwood
Royal Field Artillery
26th October 1918 age 21

He answered the call

Brenda McMahon has submitted the following:

John was born in Gateshead in 1897, the youngest son to his glassmaker father Joseph and his wife Catherine Jane (nee Walker). His father originated from Plymouth. The family including 8 brothers & sisters lived at 7 Cato Street Gateshead.

At the age of 14 John was working as an errand boy in a local café alongside his 2 waitress sisters, Catherine & Georgina, and his brother, Abraham, who assisted in the café.

John enlisted in the army and in 1918 died of his injuries at home aged 21 years.

His mother, Catherine, added the following words to his headstone within the family plot :-He answered the call.

John Collingwood is remembered at Gateshead on G39.004