Duncombe Cemetery

Duncombe Cemetery

Ploegsteert Memorial

Ploegsteert Memorial

In Duncombe Cemetery Ferryhill is a family headstone which reads:-

In loving memory of
Mary Ann
beloved daughter of
John and Elizabeth Hamilton
of Dean Bank
died Nov. 25th 1918
aged 35 years
Also John Private of the
16th Middlesex Regt.
brother of the above
who was killed in action
in France April 13th 1918
aged 22 years

A shadow rests upon our home
We miss their loving faces
Wherever we turn wherever we look
We see their vacant places

Pauline Priano has submitted the following:-

John William Simpson Hamilton, known as John was born 1896 at Littletown, the site of Lambton Colliery, near Durham in 1896, the youngest of 2 sons and 4 daughters, the only surviving children of 11, born to John Hamilton Snr and wife Elizabeth Scott. His parents born 1860 at Sherburn Hill, County Durham were married December 16th 1878 at Houghton-le-Spring, initially living at East Renton and Rainton. By 1891, they had moved back to Littletown with their 3 children, living at Cross Row where John Snr was employed as a coal miner, later his eldest son James joined him eventually both worked as hewers. John Jnr aged 15 in 1911 worked underground as a colliery labourer, the family now living at 5, Siemens Street, Dene Bank, Ferryhill.

John Hamilton enlisted as of January 15th 1915 at Ferryhill and was assigned at Private PW/798 to the newly formed 18th (1st Public Works Pioneers) Battalion Middlesex Regiment, joining the regiment at Hornsea, Middlesex. They trained at Alexandra Palace and moved to Rayleigh in May, joining the 33rd Division as a Pioneer Battalion at Clipstone Camp in July 1915 and moved to Salisbury Plain for final training in August. Their role as Pioneers was to provide and maintain support services to the Front Line including repairing trenches, tunnelling, laying rail tracks, revetting canals etc. They proceeded to France, November 15th 1915, landing at Le Havre. The Division concentrated near Morbecque, strengthened by the exchange of 98th Brigade for the experienced 19th Brigade from 2nd Division. In 1916 the division was in action in the Battles of the Somme, 1917 they took part in the Arras Offensive, the actions on the Hindenburg Line, the Operations on the Flanders coast and the Third Battles of Ypres. In 1918 they were in action in the Battles of the Lys, the Battles of the Hindenburg Line and the Final Advance in Picardy.

Private PW/798 John Hamilton Middlesex Regiment was killed in action April 13th 1918 during the Battle of the Lys, 9th-29th April 1918. His sacrifice is recorded as one of over 11,000 names inscribed on the Ploegsteert Memorial, near Ypres, Belgium, commemorating servicemen from the United Kingdom and South Africa who died in the sector and have no known grave. He was 22 years old and single.

John’s sister Mary Ann Hamilton died 7 months after him, November 25th 1918 aged 35 years. She was interred at Duncombe Cemetery, Ferryhill, County Durham. Her parents marked her resting place with a headstone that also bears a reference to her brother.

Elizabeth Hamilton nee Scott died in 1940, Durham SE, death of John’s father unknown.

In Gods safe keeping. Rest In Peace.

John William Simpson Hamilton is remembered at Ferryhill on F38.02

The CWGC entry for Private Hamilton