James Carr Hanlon, Stoker 1st Class (P/K 66914), was born on July 23rd, 1907 in Newcastle, the eldest son of James Hanlon and his wife Annie, née Carr. His father died in 1918, and James was brought up by his widowed mother. His service in the Royal Navy dates from September 10th, 1925. He joined the Royal Fleet Reserve in 1937, and HMS Dunedin on August 21st, 1939. In the same year, he married Eleanor Davison Lee, with whom he had a daughter.
