Universities at War

Joseph William Coulson was born at Brotton in Cleveland in 1872, the son of Joseph, an ironstone miner, and his wife Alice. He studied at Bede College 1893-1894, and after leaving he was employed as a schoolmaster by Middlesbrough Education Committee at Stockton Street Council School. By the time of the 1911 census he was married, to Lydia, and they had three sons, Max, Keith, and Ronald, and three daughters, Kathleen, Enid, and Mary. He enlisted at Durham and joined the 1/8th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry as Private 2921 and entered France on 19 April 1915, serving in A Company of the Battalion. He was killed in action on 26 April 1915 during the battalion’s defence of Gravenstafel Ridge in the 2nd Battle of Ypres. His body was never recovered and his name is honoured at the Menin Gate in Ypres. He is also commemorated on the Middlesbrough War Memorial and also on the Bede College 1914-1918 Cross, Plaque, and Roll of Honour.