In Jarrow Cemetery is a headstone which reads:-
In
Loving Memory
of
Joseph Lane
Dearly beloved husband of
Jane Lane
Died June 15th 1915
Aged 67 years
and of the above
Jane Lane
who died July 21st 1927
aged 72 years
Mary
daughter of the above
died Feb. 2nd 1920 aged 28 years
Joseph
son of the above
Died Feb 5th 1927 aged 44 years
James
son of the above
Died Aug. 15th 1949 aged 73 years
Also Josephine
daughter of the above
Died Jan 22nd 1956
In the midst of life we are in death
Joseph Lane was born in Belfast in 1848. He married Jane Strong December 9th 1874 at Jarrow.
The couple had 5 children, James 1876-1949, Josephine jane 1879-1956, Robert Strong 1880-1867, Joseph 1882-1927 and Mary 1892- 1920.
The family lived at 25 Bede Burn Road Jarrow.
Joseph was killed in the Zeppelin Raid on Palmer’s Engine Works Jarrow on June 15th 1915.
On Tuesday 15th June 1915 Zeppelin LZ40 (L10) commandeered by Kapitan Leutnant Hisch crossed the coast north of Blyth and headed directly for Wallsend where bombs were dropped on the Marine Engineering Works causing severe damage. 7 Heavy Explosive and 5 Incendiary Bombs then fell on Palmer’s Works at Jarrow where 17 men died and 72 were injured. North of the river again, bombs fell at Willington where they damaged Cookson’s Antimony Works and Pochin’s Chemical Works and several houses. A policeman [Robert Telford] died at Willington Quay.
The L10 then headed for the sea dropping bombs on Haxton Colliery and South Shields on the way. It flew over Palmers Shipyard about 11.40pm and dropped bombs which killed 17 persons and injured 72.
The report of the bombing must have been highly censored at the time, having just a few lines in the Shields Gazette on Thursday 17/06/1915. It just stated that 16 were killed, which included a policeman, and 40 injured when a Zeppelin bombed Jarrow.
On Friday 18th in the Shields Gazette there was another small column regarding the inquest which noted the following 14 had been killed in the yard:
Albert Bramley 54,
Matthew Carter 55,
Karl Johan W. Kalnin 22,
Joseph Lane 67 (Marine Engineer)
Robert Thomas Nixon 32,
Frederick Pinnock 31,
Lawrence Frazer Sanderson 16,
Thomas Henry Smith 23,
Ralph Snaith 48,
William Stamford 40,
Joseph Beckwith Thornicroft 31,
William Grieves Turner 20,
John George Windle 27,
William Ernest Cook Young 16.
Ann Isabella Laughlin 62 living near to the yard, died from shock.
There was an inquest for a policeman (no name given) who was killed over in Willington Quay.
These two died later from their wounds:
John Cuthbert Davison 31 (Fitter and Turner)
George Ward 18 (Apprentice Fitter and Turner).
The Zeppelin LZ40 (L10) was destroyed by lightning off Neuwerk Island in Germany on 3rd September 1915.
Joseph lane is remembered at Jarrow on J2.25 and J2.54.
There was a Memorial J2.08 with 12 names on, at one time in the Stirling Foundry in Jarrow, once part of the Palmer’s Shipyard but this does not include Joseph Lane.
