Douglas was born on 25th June 1891. He joined the Ilford County High School from Cleveland Road Elementary School, Ilford in September 1904, aged 13. His Irish-born father, Walter, was a toy manufacturer and the family lived at 48, Park Road. In April 1905, Douglas left school in order to go to Germany.
In 1911, the nineteen-year-old Douglas was recorded in the census as having returned from Germany and living at 34 Aldborough Road, Seven Kings with his parents, four sisters and one brother. The family were wealthy enough to employ a domestic servant and his father was recorded as a ‘fancy goods agent.’ Douglas’ occupation was recorded as ‘clerk’.
He became a Private (and later recorded as Trooper) in the Essex Yeomanry Regiment and died on 14 May 1915, aged 23. His service number was 1314. He died on 14th May 1915, aged 23. His name appears on the Menin Gate in Ypres (Panel 5) alongside the many others who fought in the region and have no known grave. By the time of his death, Douglas’s father had also died.
Research by Andrew Emeny, History Teacher at ICHS
Sources:
Ancestry.com
ICHS school records and magazines
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Note
Ilford County High School started life as the Park Higher Grade School in 1901 in Balfour Road, Ilford. It was renamed Ilford County High School (or initially County High School, Ilford) in the years after the school’s management was transferred from Ilford School Board to Essex Education Committee in 1904.