BORN CROWLE, LINCOLNSHIRE 1890. SON OF WILLIAM DONNELLY & JANE ANN STANIFORTH (1856-1934). HE HAD TWO HALF BROTHERS, GEORGE AND WILLIAM STANNIFORTH AND A SISTER IVY WHO LIVED AT HERBERT CLIFFORD. THE FAMILY HAD LIVED AT 17 HARPER STREET, SELBY, WHERE HE WORKED AS AN OIL MILLER (1911 CENSUS). HE MOVED TO HULL. WITH HIS PARENTS WHO LIVED AT 10 BOWERS TERRACE, WATERLOO STREET, HULL. WHEN HIS FATHER DIED, HIS MOTHER JANE MOVED TO 4 WATSON’S TERRACE, SPRING STREET, HULL. HE WORKED AS A LABOURER.
HE ENLISTED IN HULL ON 16/11/1914, AGED 24 YEARS AND 330 DAYS. HE JOINED THE 13TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT WITH HIS BROTHER ARTHUR (THEY HAVE CONSEQUTIVE SERIAL NUMBERS). HIS ARMY ADDRESS WAS 4 ALPHA TERRACE, RAYWELL STREET, HULL AND 4 WATSON’S TERRACE, SPRING STREET, HULL.
ALTHOUGH UNMARRIED, IT SEEMS HE WAS IN A RELATIONSHIP AND HAD A “ILLEGIMATE CHILD”. HE FORFEITED PAY FOUR TIMES DURING HIS ARMY CAREER FOR BEING ABSENT, OVERSTAYING HIS PASS, BREAKING OUT OF BARRACKS, PRESUMABLY TO SEE HIS CHILD. HE ALSO PAID CHILD MAINTENANCE FROM HIS ARMY WAGES.
HE WAS DESCRIBED AS 5 FOOT 10 INCHES TALL, 38 INCH CHEST, 157 LBS WEIGHT, “GOOD” PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT, ROMAN CATHOLIC. TRAINED AT RIPON AND WITHERNSEA. SENT TO FRANCE, ON 20/12/1916. HE SERVED WITH 13TH AND 4TH EAST YORKSHIRE BATTALIONS. HE WAS KILLED IN ACTION, ON 10/04/1918, AGED 27. HE IS COMMEMORATED ON THE PLOEGSTEERT MEMORIAL, HAINAUT, BELGIUM.
HIS ARMY EFFECTS WERE LEFT TO HIS WIDOWED MOTHER, JANE.
HIS BROTHER, WILLIAM STANIFORTH DONNELLY, ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY, ALSO LIVED ABOVE. (ABSENT VOTERS 1918). HIS OTHER BROTHER, CORPORAL, ARTHUR DONNELLY, 13/75, 13TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT, WAS KILLED IN ACTION, AT SERRE, ON 13/11/1916, AGED 24. HE LEFT SISTERS, ANNIE AND IVY.
