WHEN seven-year-old John Allison drowned in the River Ouse in 1946, his grave at a York cemetery was marked only by a plain wooden cross.

Now, 67 years after the tragedy, his younger brother Barry has flown across the world from his home in New Zealand to install a headstone at the grave in Fulford Cemetery.

The headstone was unveiled during an emotional ceremony on Saturday, when a New Zealand flag covering the headstone was removed and folded by Barry and his wife, Barbara.

Children from St George’s Roman Catholiic Primary School – which Barry and John attended – then sang the hymn How Great Thou Art. The service was attended by relatives living in Britain and conducted by the Very Reverend Canon Alan Sheridan.

Barry, now 73, told how he and John had been playing down by the river near Blue Bridge Lane in March, 1946, when John had somehow ended up in the water.

“I tried to get help from a young soldier who was there on the riverbank with his girlfriend but she told me to go away,” he said. His brother then disappeared from view.

“My brother has always been with me. I have never forgotten him,” he said.

Barry told The Press he lived in Winterscale Street, Fisherate – where the Catholic primary school is based today – with his parents Reg and Mary, who ran a shop and off licence, and with his other siblings David, Margaret and Francis.

He said the family emigrated to New Zealand when he was 12 and this was the first time he had been back.

• Barry asked anyone who remembered him, John or their family to contact him by phoning 07946 631315 or emailing him at bazbarbzingizzie@xtra.co.nz


ON April 1, 1946, the then Yorkshire Evening Press reported an inquest into the death of John Allison, whose body had been recovered from the Ouse near Blue Bridge.

York City Coroner Colonel Innesware, recording a verdict of accidental death due to drowning, said John’s parents must in no way hold themselves to blame.

“It is not easy to get an exact picture of what happened as the witness was only five years old,” he said.

“It is, however, clear that the boys were playing with sticks on the water and John Allison overbalanced and fell in. He had been warned about playing near the river but with children of that age, everything cannot be seen to, especially when they are adventurous.”