John Alexander Abrahamson was the eldest son of a Swedish grocer and general dealer, Oliver L Abrahamson, and his English wife, Jemima.

He joined Westoe Secondary School from Holy Trinity Infants in 1906, leaving around 1910 to become a house painter, and continued to live with his family at 68 Bertram Street, South Shields.

On 14-Sep-1914, he enlisited with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves, and his first posting was to Drake Battalion, as they moved to Blandford Camp (Dorset) in January 1915.

Despite signing up as a sailor, he was one of many navy reservists who fought as land soldiers.

While fighting in the Dardanelles, he sustained a bullet wound to his right hand and was invalided back to the UK in July 1915. He was then drafted for the British Expeditionary Force on 30-Jul-1916, and joined the 188th Brigade Machine Gun Company

On 13-Nov-1916, while fighting on the Western Front, he sustained injuries from enemy fire, and was taken to the 2/1st South Midland Casualty Clearing Station, where he died of his wounds on 16-Nov-1916.

He is buried in the extension to the Warloy-Baillon Communal Cemetery in the Somme, about 15 miles north-east of Amiens.