Name
Ronald McDonald
1889
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
29/11/1915
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Serjeant
37552
Royal Field Artillery
and Indian Army Unattached List
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BASRA MEMORIAL
Panel 3 and 60.
Iraq
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Baldock memorials
Pre War
Ronald MacDonald was born in 1889 in Devonport, Devon, the son of John and Catherine McDonald.
On the 1901 Census he was listed at the District Royal Hospital School, Greenwich as an 11 year old. (The boarding school was a 'charitable institution' established to provide education for boys from seafaring backgrounds)
By 1911 he was listed as a 21 year old gunner serving with the 93rd Battery, Royal Field Artillery. (A note on the census form indicates that he was absent on census night.)
Wartime Service
He was already a serving soldier with the Royal Field Artillery at the outbreak of war, having enlisted in London. At some point he was promoted to Sergeant and served in the Asiatic Theatre from 5 May 1915 with the Indian Army Unattached list.
Ronald died of wounds at Kut Elamara, Iraq on 29 November 1915, aged 26. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Basra Memorial, Iraq.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £10 and pay owing of £9 4s 3d. He gave his address as 67 Ladywell Park, Lewisham, S E London on pension records but no pension appears to have been paid as father could not be traced.
Ronald is commemorated on his parents'grave in St Mary's Churchyard Baldock. His inscription reads:
". . . ALSO RONALD THEIR SON, WHO DIED OF WOUNDS AT KUT ELAMARA, NOV 29TH 1916 AGED 26. R.I.P."
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild
