Name
George Ephithite
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
13/11/1916
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
2993
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 12 C.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Rickmansworth Urban District Memorial, St. Peter’s Church Memorial, Mill End, St. Peter's C & E Primary School Memorial, Mill End, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford, Not on the West Hyde memorials
Pre War
George was born in West Hyde on the 18th of April 1896 and baptised there on the 14th of June. His parents were George and Ellen (nee Hunt) Ephithite.
His father died in 1898 age 32 and in 1901 Ellen, a Charwoman, was living with her parents George and Sarah Hunt, her children George 4 and Beatrice 3, and her sister Clara in Uxbridge Road, Mill End. 10 years later the family was still in Uxbridge Road, Ellen the head of the household, George a Shepherd Boy, Beatrice at school, and sister Clara no occupation, Ellen’s father had died in 1909 and her mother in 1910.
Recorded as enlisting in Hertford.
Wartime Service
The 1st Battalion landed in France on the 6th of November 1914 as part of 4th (Guards) Brigade 2nd Division. They transferred to 6th Brigade on the 19th of August 1915 and to 118th Brigade 39th Division on the 29th of February 1916.
The Battalion saw action in numerous battles including the 1915 actions at Cuinchy, Festubert and Lo in 1915, and the Somme in 1916.
George died of wounds at 132nd Field Ambulance on the 13th of November 1916 and probably sustained them during the Battle of Ancre when the battalion suffered 147 casualties including 20 killed.
Acknowledgments
Malcolm Lennox, Tanya Britton, Mike Collins, Jonty Wild
