BORN HULL 1896. SON OF DANIEL McDONALD (1863-1931) & SARAH BERESFORD (1866-1941), OF 4 MASON STREET, HULL (CWGC ADDRESS). SON OF A DOCK LABOURER. ONE OF TWELVE CHILDREN. FROM A ROMAN CATHOLIC FAMILY. EMPLOYED AS A BRICKLAYER AND MILL HAND. HE DIED OF GAS POISONING RECEIVED IN FRANCE. HE HAD BEEN IN BERMONDSEY HOSPITAL SINCE AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY, AND WAS RETURNED TO HIS PARENTS HOME.
HE WON THE 9 STONE BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP OF HULL, IN 1914 BEFORE JOINING THE COLOURS. HE WORKED AS A BRICKLAYER, FOR MR HENRY VOKES, BUILDING CONTRACTORS, AT 102 ANLABY ROAD. HE ENLISTED IN HULL, ON 8TH MAY 1915, AGED 19 YEARS AND 10 MONTHS. 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 AND DIED 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’ BORREMEON CHURCH MEMORIAL.
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 MCDONALD DROWNED IN BEVERLEY BECK IN 1917. IN ADDITION TO THESE THREE SONS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES. ANOTHER, WILLIAM MCDONALD, 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. 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.
