Douglas was born in Shotton in 1897. He appears with his family in the 1901 census living at 7 Brook Road Shotton. His father, the head of the household was 29 year old Samuel who hailed originally from Tipton in Staffordshire. He was an iron worker. His wife was 29 year old Elizabeth also from Tipton.  Douglas A. was 3 years old and had been born in Shotton as had his baby sister, Florence E aged 6 months.

By the next census of 1911, the family had grown and lived at 13 Brook Road Shotton. Samuel and his wife of 15 years, Elizabeth were both 39. Douglas was 13 Florence was 10, Oswald was 8 and Beatrice 5. There were two lodgers – father and son both named Joseph Morris who hailed from Opengates in Shropshire.

St. Deniol’s Churchyard, North Extension (West Side) – G 11 Hannah Devison Died 14th Dec 1914 aged 52 – Elizabeth Devison Died 12th Jan 1920 age 79 – Private Douglas A Forrester 28403 S.W.B. 27 February 1918.  Prisoner of War Turkey, age 21.

Imperial War Museum – http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/60263 – Description – White gravestone with lead lettering.  Inscription:- In Loving Memory Of/ Hannah Davidson,/ Mother Of The Above/ Died Jan. 12th 1920, Aged 79 Years./ Also Pte Douglas A. Forrester, 28403 S.W.B./ Grandson Of The Above Elizabeth Davidson/ Died Feb. 27th 1918, P.O. War, Turkey/ Aged 21 Years.

There is a card for Douglas in the Flintshire Roll of Honour at the County Archive Office in Hawarden. It had been completed by his mother Elizabeth Forrester. It gives the address 13 Brook Road, Shotton and the Regimental details as above. It says he served 3 years and died as a prisoner of war in Turkey.

County Herald 28th June 1917 – In the lists of Dead, Wounded and missing:- Forrester, 28403, D.A. Shotton, Machine Gun Corps.

UK soldiers who died in the Great War 1914 -19 accessible on www.ancestry.co.uk tells us that he enlisted in Flint and that he was originally in the RWF.

Douglas is also remembered on the Hawarden War Memorial and the St. Ethelwold’s Church Screen.