Douglas, Arthur James (Arthur)
Cadet
No. 182273, 8th Cadet Wing, Royal Air Force
Died of disease on Sunday 29 September 1918 (aged 30)
Buried:
Shorncliffe Military Cemetery, Kent, England (Grave O. 672)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Journey of Remembering Belfast Book of Honour
BIOGRAPHY
The death of Cadet Arthur James Douglas (No. 182273) was reported in the 12 October 1918 edition of the County Down Spectator.
Arthur James Douglas was born on 29 June 1888 at 76 Westmoreland Street, Belfast and he was the youngest son of Richard and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Douglas (nee Johnston) who were married on 27 September 1877 in St Anne’s Church of Ireland Church Belfast. Richard Douglas (aged 28) from 200 Agnes Street, Belfast was a son of Richard Douglas, a painter. Lizzie Johnston (aged 25) from Belfast was a daughter of Joseph Johnston, a grocer.
In 1901 the Douglas family were living in Springfield Road, Belfast.
Richard Douglas worked as a linen lapper and he and Lizzie had at least seven children:
Joseph (born 16 May 1878 at 67 Carlow Street, Belfast)
Maggie (born 8 March 1880 at 22 Westmoreland Street, Belfast)
John (born 18 February 1882 at 65 Westmoreland Street, Belfast)
Richard (born 4 February 1884 at 74 Westmoreland Street, Belfast)
Jane (Jennie, born 22 May 1886 at 74 Westmoreland Street, Belfast)
Arthur James (born 29 June 1888 at 76 Westmoreland Street, Belfast)
Elizabeth (Lillie, born 11 March 1892)
Richard and Lizzie Douglas moved to South Africa where they lived at 4 Glengareff Terrace, Three Anchor Bay, Capetown.
Their eldest son, Joseph Douglas, worked as a lithographic artist and he lived at 46 Seacliffe Road, Bangor. It was Joseph Douglas who received official intimation about his brother’s death in a military hospital at Sandgate, Kent.
Cadet Arthur James Douglas (No. 182273) was 30 when he died of pneumonia on 29 September 1918 and he was buried in Shorncliffe Military Cemetery, Kent. There is an inscription on his CWGC headstone:
HONOURED AND BELOVED
BY ALL WHO KNEW HIM
Cadet Arthur James Douglas is commemorated in the Belfast Book of Honour (Page 164).