The man with the donkey: South Shields statue of John Simpson Kirkpatrick

TODAY’S object is a statue of a man with a donkey, which commemorates the life of one of a North-East war hero you may not know much about.

Also known as ‘the bloke with the donk’, the memorial to John Simpson Kirkpatrick by South Shields sculptor Bob Olley, stands in the town’s Ocean Road .

He is probably more famous Down Under than he is up here and is regarded as one of Australia and New Zealand’s greatest heroes.

Simpson Kirkpatrick was born to Scottish parents in South Shields’ Bertram Street in 1892.

One of eight children, he worked with donkeys as a young lad on the beach in the town.

In 1910, Simpson Kirkpatrick joined the Merchant Navy and sailed from Newcastle aboard SS Heighington, but deserted while in port at another Newcastle, in New South Wales, and earned a living on dry land as a cane-cutter or coal-miner.

He settled in Australia where he travelled widely. Under the name John Simpson – Simpson was his mother’s maiden name – he then enlisted in the British army, perhaps as a means of returning to his home country.

As a member of the Anzac forces he took part in the campaign in the Gallipoli peninsula from April 1915 where he lost his life to Turkish sniper fire on May 19.

His heroic efforts as an army stretcher-bearer commenced on the battlefield where, as he was carrying a wounded comrade, he spotted a donkey that he used to assist in the movement of the wounded.

Pte John Simpson, centre, with his donkey carrying an injured soldier in Gallipoli

Simpson subsequently returned again and again to the constant fire of the front line to rescue more than 300 wounded men, returning them to the beach for evacuation with the assistance of the donkeys.

Colonel John Monash wrote: “Pte Simpson and his little beast earned the admiration of everyone”, adding: “Simpson knew no fear.”

Simpson escaped death so many times that he became completely fatalistic, but, a bullet did eventually stop him when,, on May 19, 2015, he was hit by machine gun fire in the stomach and killed instantly.

There have often been calls for him to be awarded the Victoria Cross, but this has never been forthcoming. Perhaps his earlier desertion hindered the case for rewarding his heroics.

* Thanks to David Simpson of the England's North East website – englandsnortheast.co.uk/ – for his help in compiling this article