In Darlington North Cemetery is the Commonwealth War Grave of:

J.H. Bloomer
Able Seaman  R.N.  SS/2386
H.M.S. Crescent
19th July 1918  age 28

Time changeth many things
but memory, like the ivy
clings

He was the husband of Mrs. Annie Raine Bloomer, of 14, Grasmere Road, Darlington

John Henry Bloomer was born on 26th August 1889 in Darlington, the son of James and Bridget (nee Dwyer) Bloomer.  They had married in 1887 and had eight children, Catherine (b.1887), John Henry, Mary (b.1891), Elizabeth (b.1893), Isabella (b.1895), Margaret (b.1897), Ada (b.1899) and James (b.1900).

In 1891 James, a labourer at the ironworks, was living with his family at 7 Farrer Street, moving to Sheraton Street by the turn of the century.

John, who had been working as a driller, joined the Royal Navy on 7th May 1908, signing up for five years plus a further seven in the Royal Fleet Reserve (RFR). Becoming an ordinary seaman with the service number SS/2386, he was promoted to the rank of Able Seaman on 25th August 1910.

At the time of the 1911 census John was living in the Royal Naval Barracks in Devonport, Devon. He was demobilised on 3rd May 1913 when he completed his short service period

John was transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve (RFR) as an able seaman with the new service number B/5020 and was called back into active service on 2nd August 1914 on the outbreak of war and served on the cruiser HMS Crescent.

Whilst on leave in January 1915 he married Annie Raine Cossins in Darlington, and they had a son named Herbert Raine, born in 1916.

John died from pneumonia on 19th July 1918 at the Royal Naval Hospital in Edinburgh.

John Henry Bloomer is remembered at Darlington in D40.034 page 10 and in our List of Ships’ Crews.