James William Dale was born in West Hartlepool on 1st December 1890 to Robert Dale, a dock labourer from Bradford, and hs wife Mary who had been born in Ormesby, North Yorkshire.
The family appear to have moved to Hartlepool in the mid 1880s, as the 1901 Census shows that a sister of James William Dale was born in Guisborough around 1884, but subsequent children were born in West Hartlepool. The family are to be found in Grace Street in 1891, 1901 and 1911. In 1911, Robert and Mary had been married 30 years and had 4 children all of whom had survived.
James William Dale, was a milkboy when he signed up for the Royal Navy in 1908 (J1782). On his record, he apparently had grey eyes, black hair and was 5 feet 3 and half inches tall. A year later, he had grown an inch. The 1911 Census shows him to be serving on HMS Alert.
His last ship was HMS Arethusa on which he was sadly one of 11 killed during the Battle of Heligoland Bight. His mother Mary was living at 21, Grace Street, West Hartlepool, at this time.
James William Dale is buried in Woodlands New Cemetery Gillingham, Kent.
