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David Lemmon Henderson (1892-1917)


South Hetton miner served in the Royal Army Medical Corps


David was born on 13 August 1892, the third child of James Henderson and Mary Ellen Henderson, nee Bowden. At the time of his birth, his sister Sarah was aged nine and his brother Robert Bowden aged two. In 1891 the Henderson family lived at 25 Braddyll Street, South Hetton and father James was employed as a coal miner. By 1901, the family had moved and the census shows they were living at 3 Gale Street, South Hetton. The family had grown with the addition of Margaret, born in 1896 and Richard, born in 1900.

In 1911 the census shows that David, his brother Robert and father James were all working underground at the local mine. David and his brother were employed as putters and their father a hewer. In his spare time David played football with his friends in a local team. Sometime between the 1911 census and 1917 the family moved to live at 8 James Street, South Hetton.

After the war broke out David went to Sunderland and enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). After training in Aldershot he was posted overseas and entered France on 21 July 1915. Serving as a private with the service number 44685, David was attached to the 60th Field Ambulance as a stretcher bearer and served in France and Belgium.

In September 1917 during the action taking place in the Passchendaele area of Belgium, David was wounded. He was taken to the Canada Farm Dressing Station at West -Vlaanderen near Elverdinghe, where he died of his wounds on 19 September 1917, aged 25 years old.

David was buried and is remembered with honour at Canada Farm Cemetery, Cemetery Memorial reference, 111.C.18. At the time of David’s death, the casualty clearing station was positioned near this cemetery.

Canada Farm Cemetery is eight and a half kilometres north west of Ypres and took its name from a farmhouse used as a dressing station during the 1917 offensive on this front. Most of the burials are of men who died at the dressing station between June and October 1917. There are 907 First World War burials in the cemetery which was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.

David was a single man when he died and records show that he left his savings and war gratuity earned for his service to his sister Margaret.

David Lemmon Henderson was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.

Civil Parish: Haswell

Birth date: 13-Aug-1892

Death date: 19-Sep-1917

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: 25 Braddyll Street, South Hetton (1891 Census)
3 Gale Street, South Hetton (1901, 1911 Census)
8 James Street, South Hetton (CWGC website)

Employment: Miner

Family: Parents: James Henderson, Mary Ellen Henderson nee Bowden
Siblings: Sarah Henderson (b 1883), Robert Bowden Henderson (b 1890), Margaret Henderson (b 1896), Richard Henderson (b 1900)

Military service:

RAMC
60th Field Ambulance
Private
Service Number 44685

Medal(s): 1914-1915 Star
Victory Medal
British Medal

Memorial(s): Canada Farm Cemetery, West -Vlaanderen, Belgium
Plaque 1914-18, Holy Trinity Church, South Hetton
ROH 1914-18 1939-45, British Legion, South Hetton

Gender: Male

Contributed by U McKellar, Easington Village

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