Adair, John
Lance Corporal
No. 17/765, 10th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Died of wounds on Tuesday 14 November 1916 (aged 30)
Buried:
St Quentin Cabaret Military Cemetery, Belgium (Grave I. C. 35)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Ballywalter and District War Memorial
Ballywalter Parish Church of Ireland Church (Holy Trinity)
Family grave headstone in Whitechurch Cemetery, Ballywalter
BIOGRAPHY
John Adair was born on 7 June 1886 in Ballywalter and he was a son of George and Annie (Anna) Adair (nee Mulree, sometimes Mulrea, sometimes Milrea) who were married on 5 October 1874 in St Anne’s Church of Ireland Church Belfast. George Adair (aged 24), a seaman from Belfast was a son of Robert Adair, a pilot. Anna Milrea (aged 24) from Ballywalter was a daughter of James Milrea, a fisherman.
The Adair family lived in Ballywalter.
George Adair worked as a fisherman and he and Anna had at least seven children:
Eliza (Lizzie, born 4 May 1876 in Ballywalter; died of bronchitis 21 January 1881 aged 4)
Campbell (born 4 May 1878 in Ballywalter; died of croup 11 March 1881 aged 2)
George (born 10 February 1881 in Ballywalter)
Lilian Campbell (Lily, born 14 February 1884 in Ballywalter; died 11 April 1953 aged 69)
John (born 7 June 1886 in Ballywalter)
Samuel (born 27 April 1890 in Ballywalter; died of tuberculosis 25 March 1900 aged 9)
Ellen Campbell (born 8 August 1892 in Ballywalter)
The children were baptised in Ballywalter Parish Church of Ireland Church.
Their father George died of heart disease on 19 December 1906 (aged 53).
Their mother Anna died on 16 January 1931 (aged 80).
John Adair enlisted in Belfast and served with the 10th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in 107th Brigade of the 36th (Ulster) Division.
Lance Corporal John Adair was 30 when he died of wounds on 14 November 1916 (official records).
There is an inscription on the family grave headstone in Whitechurch Cemetery which records his date of death as 11 November 1916:
Call him not dead who fell at duty’s feet
And passes through light where earth and heaven meet
For radiant rest
Lance Corporal John Adair was buried in St Quentin Cabaret Military Cemetery, Belgium and he is commemorated on Ballywalter and District War Memorial; in Ballywalter Parish Church of Ireland Church (Holy Trinity) and on the family grave headstone in Whitechurch Cemetery, Ballywalter.