Adair, James
Gunner
Royal Garrison Artillery
Died of disease on Tuesday 7 August 1928 (aged 35)
Buried:
Movilla Cemetery, Newtownards, Co Down (Grave 14. 54)
Commemorated:
Newtownards and District War Memorial
Brother of Edward Adair (No. 27059)
BIOGRAPHY
The name James Adair is listed on Newtownards and District War Memorial and in the booklet produced for the Unveiling and Dedication Ceremony held on Saturday 26 May 1934 he is described as a Gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery. The organising committee of the day decided to include the names of ex-servicemen who died up to that date from what they considered to be war related causes, whether as a result of wounds or disease.
James Adair was born on 26 November 1892 in the townland of Ballyrogan, Newtownards and he was the elder son of Robert and Margaret (Maggie) Adair (nee Mullen) who were married on 11 November 1890 in Ballyblack Presbyterian Church. Robert Adair from Greengraves was a son of James Adair, a labourer. Maggie Mullen from Ballywitticock worked as a servant and she was a daughter of Hugh Mullen, a labourer.
The Adair family lived at 12 Robert Street, Newtownards.
Before that the Adair family lived in the townlands of Corporation South (1901) and Ballyharry (1911), both Newtownards.
Robert Adair was an agricultural labourer and he and Maggie had five children all of whom were baptised in First Newtownards Presbyterian Church:
Catherine (Kathleen, born 3 October 1891 at Ballyskeagh, Newtownards)
James (born 26 November 1892 at Ballyrogan, Newtownards)
Edward (born 30 July 1895 in Darragh’s Lane, Newtownards)
Alice (born 9 April 1898 in Darragh’s Lane, Newtownards)
Annie Jane Bleakley (Annie, born 16 November 1903 in Ballylinney, Newtownards)
Ann Jane Bleakley (Annie, born 16 November 1903)
In civilian life James Adair worked as a labourer and during the First World War he served as a Gunner with the Royal Garrison Artillery. He was 35 when he died of acute bronchitis on 7 August 1928 at 42A Church Street, Newtownards. His wife Lizzie and his sisters, Kathleen McCullough and Annie Adair, placed separate death notices in the 18th August 1928 edition of the Newtownards Chronicle. In subsequent years Lizzie and her two children who lived at 35 Robert Street, Newtownards placed In Memoriam notices in the Newtownards Chronicle. One included the text:
Gone to be with Christ, which is far better