Driver Hugh Erin Reid (1893526) served in the Royal Engineers during World War Two. Born on 11th September 1906, he was the son oh Hugh Robert Reid and Elizabeth Margaret Reid (née Smyth) of Newtownards, Co. Down.
On 26th June 1926, Hugh married Eliza Jane “Jeanie” Gibson of Newtownards, Co. Down. Robert Smyth and Isabella Smyth witnessed the ceremony. Hugh and Jeanie had a daughter, Florence Anna Elizabeth Reid, born on 11th February 1929.
Hugh died in Yorkshire on 9th April 1940 aged 34 years old. Harry Benson of Main Street, Fulford, York discovered Hugh’s body while the Yorkshireman carried out dredging on the River Ouse. Dr. SM Bademan stated at an inquest the body had been in the water for 4-6 weeks. Coroner Colonel Innes Ware put forward the theory that Reid had found himself on Queen’s Staith Road and fallen in the river in the blackout.
Hugh Erin Reid’s grave is in Section 29, Grave 41 of Movilla Cemetery, Newtownards, Co. Down. His headstone bears the inscription:
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above.