BORN HULL 1896. SON OF DANIEL McDONALD (1863-1931) & SARAH BERESFORD (1866-1941), AT 4, MASON STREET, HULL (CWGC ADDRESS).
HIS FATHER WAS BORN IN BRADFORD. HIS MOTHER WAS FROM OAKHAM. THEY HAD MARRIED AT HUDDERSFIELD, IN 1885 AND MOVED TO HULL (1891 CENSUS).
SON OF A DOCK LABOURER. HE CAME FROM A LARGE ROMAN CATHOLIC FAMILY, OF EIGHT BROTHERS AND FIVE SISTERS. SEVERAL CHILDREN DIED IN INFANCY, BUT HE WAS LIVING WITH FOUR BROTHERS AND FOUR SISTERS, AT 22 MASON STREET, HULL (1911 CENSUS). HE ALSO HAD A STEP BROTHER, JOHN CUSICK (1884-1958).
HE LIKE HIS BROTHER. JAMES, WERE CHAMPION BOXERS. JOSEPH MCDONALD WON THE 9 STONE BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP OF HULL, IN 1914 BEFORE JOINING THE COLOURS.
EMPLOYED AS A MILL HAND (1911 CENSUS). HE ALSO WORKED AS A BRICKLAYER, FOR MR HENRY VOKES, BUILDING CONTRACTORS, AT 102 ANLABY ROAD, HULL. . IN 1915, HE WAS LIVING AT 23, MASON STREET, HULL.
HE ENLISTED IN HULL, ON 8TH MAY 1915, AGED 19 YEARS AND 10 MONTHS. SERVED IN THE ROYAL ENGINEERS WITH HIS BROTHER, DANIEL. POSTED TO THE 98TH ROYAL ENGINEERS LIGHT RAILWAY SECTION. TRAINED AT BROMPTON BARRACKS, CHATHAM. HE ARRIVED IN FRANCE, ON 10/10/1915. HE HAD SERVED IN FRANCE FOR NEARLY THREE YEARS. BADLY GASSED AND INVALIDED TO ENGLAND ON 06/08/1918. HE WAS DISCHARGED FROM THE ARMY ON 21/10/1918. HE HAD BEEN IN BERMONDSEY HOSPITAL SINCE AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY, AND WAS RETURNED TO HIS PARENTS HOME.
HE DIED OF GAS POISONING RECEIVED IN FRANCE. ON 25/10/1918, AGED 22. UNMARRIED. HIS ARMY EFFECTS WERE LEFT TO HIS FATHER, DANIEL.
HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL ON 6TH NOVEMBER 1918, WITH HIS PHOTOGRAPH. *
JAMES IS LISTED ON THE ST CHARLES’ BORROMEO CHURCH MEMORIAL, JARRATT STREET, HULL.
HIS BROTHER, SAPPER, JAMES MCDONALD, 515, EAST RIDING ROYAL ENGINEERS, DIED IN FRANCE, ON 23/05/1916, AGED 21. HE IS RECORDED AS DIED OF WOUNDS ON HULL’S NAPIER TERRACE, ROLL OF HONOUR (Hull Daily Mail 17 October 1916). ANOTHER BROTHER, DAVID GEORGE MCDONALD DROWNED IN BEVERLEY BECK ON 7TH MAY 1917, AGED 18. IT WAS A REPORTED SUICIDE PACT WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND DORIS HUDSON, AGED 16 AS THEY COULD NOT BEAR TO BE PARTED. DAVID HAD HOPED TO JOIN THE ROYAL FLYING CORPS, BUT AFTER HIS DEATH CAME THE NEWS HE HAD BEEN EXCEMPTED FORM SERVICE.
IN ADDITION TO THESE THREE SONS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES. ANOTHER, WILLIAM MCDONALD, WHO WAS REJECTED THREE TIMES FROM SERVICE, LOST HIS LEG IN AN ACCIDENT AT THE EAGLE OILS MILLS. TWO MORE SONS, – SAPPER, DANIEL MCDONALD WAS WOUNDED AND CHIEF OFFICER, JOHN McDONALD, WHO HAD BEEN TORPEDOED TWICE, SERVED AT ARCHANGEL. JOHN HAD BEEN AWARDED A GOLD WATCH FOR SAVING LIVES AT SEA WHILE IN A SMALL BOAT FOR 70 HOURS BEFORE RESCUE.
THE LATE JAMES McDONALD LIKE HIS BROTHER JOSEPH WAS WELL KNOWN IN BOXING CIRCLES AND WON HULL’S FEATHERWEIGHT BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP, AT BEVERLEY ROAD BATHS IN MARCH 1914. ANOTHER BROTHER, GEORGE DAVID MCDONALD DROWNED IN BEVERLEY BECK AFTER BEING CALLED UP. IN A SUICIDE PACT HE DIED, TIED TOGETHER, WITH HIS SWEETHEART, DORIS HUDSON (HDM 16/05/1917).
THE MCDONALD FAMILY HAD EXPERIENCED THIS EXTRAORDINARY BAD LUCK IN THE SHORT SPACE OF TWO YEARS.
