Hubbard, James Walter

Driver

No. T/185541, 4 Bridge Company, Royal Army Service Corps

Accidentally drowned on Sunday 24 August 1941 (aged 29)

Buried:

Newtownards (Movilla) Cemetery, Co. Down (Section 23 Grave 109)

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

BIOGRAPHY

James Walter Hubbard’s birth was registered in the fourth quarter of 1911 in Barnet, Middlesex.  He was born on 28 August 1911, and he was a son of  Thornton Hubbard (born in Norfolk) and Annie Gertrude Hubbard (nee Rowe, born in London).    They were married on 11 September 1897 in St. Luke’s Church, Hackney in London and they lived at 8 Brownlow Road, Boreham Wood in Hertfordshire.  Thornton Hubbard worked as a house painter and he and Gertrude had at least seven children including:

Thornton Robert

Elizabeth

Ernest Albert

Donald

Henry

James Walter

Their eldest son, Thornton Robert Hubbard, was on active service during the First World War.

James Walter Hubbard was the husband of Edith Mary Hubbard (nee Muller) and they lived in Boreham Wood, Hertfordshire.  He worked as a carpenter and their marriage was registered in the first quarter of 1940 in East Ham, Essex.

During the Second World War Driver James Walter Hubbard (No. T/185541) served with the Royal Army Service Corps and he was accidentally drowned on 24 August 1941.

Driver James Walter Hubbard’s death was reported in the 30 August 1941 edition of the Newtownards Chronicle.  He was stationed in the Newtownards district and died in a boating accident in Carlingford Lough.  James Walter Hubbard and six other passengers were crossing from Warrenpoint to Omeath when their motorboat capsized in mid-channel.  All six of the other passengers were picked up and survived the incident.  Edith Mary Hubbard was in Warrenpoint at the time of the accident.  Driver James Walter Hubbard was buried in Movilla Cemetery, Newtownards and his wife placed an inscription on his CWGC headstone:

THEY NEVER FAIL

WHO DIED IN A GREAT CAUSE

James Walter Hubbard’s father, Thornton Hubbard, died on 14 April 1956 (aged 83) and his mother Gertrude died in December 1957 (aged 79).