From the ‘Whitehaven News’ 3 October 1918: SIX SONS IN THE WAR FROM WHITEHAVEN Mrs. James McKee, of Sandwith, has just received news that her husband Pte. James McKee was killed in action, in France, on 19th September. His brother, Pte. Charles McKee, was killed in action in the Dardanelles, on August 9th 1915; and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. McKee, 38 Queen Street, Whitehaven, have given six sons to the war. The other sons are Pte. Frank, now in hospital, shot through both legs; Tom, in France; Robert, now discharged and working on munitions; and George, the youngest, now in training in England.

From the ‘Whitehaven News’ 10 October 1918: “Official intimation is now to hand of the death in action on 19th September of Pte. McKee, husband of Mrs. McKee of Dale Head Cottage, Sandwith. He was one of the Border Regt. “Pals”, and was 28 years of age.”

MEMORIAL In loving memory of Pte. James McKee, the Border Regiment, the beloved son of James and Harriet McKee, 38 Queen St., Whitehaven, who fell in action in France, on 18th September, 1918, aged 28 years.

We have lost him, we who loved him, And like others must be brave; But we know he’s sleeping In a British soldier’s grave. He never stopped to reason, When first the war began; He went and did his duty, Like a soldier and a man. Ever Remembered by Father and Mother, Brothers and Sisters, Home and Abroad. You loved me all my life, and fondly I loved you, I will meet you at the golden gates, and all my comrades too; I have died for the dear homeland, the land of brave and free, Always remember that, dear wife, whenever you think of me. When this sad war is over, and others come marching home, And you think of your fallen hero, Who will never more return, Just look upon them, dear wife, Though the tears may dim your eye, Remember your husband was a soldier too, And not afraid to die.