Kerr, James
Private
No. 14261386, Pioneer Corps
Died in service on Friday 25 June 1943 (aged 37)
Buried:
Newton-le-Willows Cemetery, Lancashire, England (Section C. Grave 1605)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
BIOGRAPHY
James Kerr was born on 15 April 1906 in Dunmurry and he was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Kerr (nee Adamson) who were married on 3 May 1898 in Eglantine All Saints Church of Ireland Church, Blaris, Lisburn. Thomas Kerr, a widowed labourer from Blaris was a son of John Kerr, a labourer. Lizzie Adamson from Blaris (she was born in Scotland) was a daughter of Alexander Adamson, a grocer.
Thomas Kerr had previously been married to Eliza Cooney. They were married on 12 October 1885 in Lisburn Registrar’s Office and they had at least three children:
Mary Jane (born 27 September 1886 in Ballymacormick, Dromore)
Thomas (born 18 June 1888 in Ballykeel, Lisburn)
Elizabeth (born 4 January 1891)
Their mother, Eliza Kerr, died of phthisis in Backnamulla on 21 May 1894 (aged 28).
In 1911 the Kerr (sometimes Carr) family was living at 38 Brownlow Street in Comber and before that they lived at 22 Sloan Road in Lisburn.
Thomas and Lizzie Kerr had at least six children:
Emily (born 21 December 1898 in Drumbeg)
Agnes (Aggie, born 7 March 1901 in Sloan Street, Lisburn)
William John (born 7 March 1903 in Dunmurry)
Annie (born 19 December 1904 in Magheragealy)
James (born 15 April 1906 in Dunmurry)
Samuel (born 17 August 1907 in Tullynagardy, Newtownards)
For a time, James Kerr lived in Cheshire and records show that he was the husband of Ann (Annie) Kerr of Bangor, Co. Down.
During the Second World War Private James Kerr (No. 14261386) served with the Pioneer Corps in the Home theatre of war and he was 37 when he died in service on 25 June 1943. His death was registered in Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire and he was buried in Newton-le-Willows Cemetery. There is an inscription on his CWGC headstone:
DEATH DIVIDES
BUT MEMORY CLINGS.
ALWAYS REMEMBERED
BY HIS LOVING WIFE ANN