Name
George Gates
1879
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
10/04/1917
43
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
G/20049
Royal Sussex Regiment
7th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
FAUBOURG D'AMIENS CEMETERY, ARRAS
VI. G. 47.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Knebworth Village Memorial, Knebworth (Old), St Martin's Church Memorial, Knebworth (New), St Martin's Church Framed Memorial Knebworth (New), The British Legion -Knebworth & District Branch ROH, St Martin Church, Knebworth (New), St Mary & St Thomas Church Memorial, Knebworth Park, Diocese - Book of Remembrance, St Albans Cathedral, St Albans, Diocese of St Albans - ROH, St Albans Cathedral, St Albans, Knebworth Village Memorial
Pre War
George Gates was born in 1879 in Knebworth, Herts the son of George and Mary Ann Gates and baptised on 28 March 1880 in Knebworth. He was one of eight children.
On the 1881 Census the family were living at The Village, Knebworth, where his father was working as a farm labourer, which he continued to do in one form or another in all the subsequent censuses.
They had moved to Deards End, Knebworth by 1891 and remained there in 1901 at which time George was working as a gardener. In 1911 the family were still in Deards End Lane Cottages, Knebworth Station, Stevenage, Herts but only George (junior) then working as a domestic gardener and his brother Walter were living with their parents.
George married Martha Elizabeth King at St Laurence's Church, Diddington, Huntingdonshire on 21 April 1913.
Little is known of their married life, but at some point before George’s death, his wife was admitted to Severalls Asylum, Colchester, Essex(*1). The reason is not known; however she was found in 1939 Martha was found as a retired cook and housekeeper, living in Huntingdon, Huntingdonshire. She died in 1953.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Hertford and served in the 7th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment. This Battalion was in the 12th Division, 36 Infantry Brigade.
The Battalion War Diary shows that on the 10th April 1917 they were in a location know as Guilford Trench, on the outskirts of Monchy-le-Preux. There is no indication of what happened to George Gates as the unit were in the process of returning to caves on the Cambrai Road. It is possible that he was the victim of shellfire. However, there was an attack by the Battalion in the early hours of the 9th. No specific casualties were recorded on the 9th or 10th but later (on the 12th), the war diary recorded total casualties since the 4th as 3 officers wounded, 37 ORs killed, 6 more later died of wounds, 102 were wounded and 7 were missing, so presumably George is included in these.
‘Soldiers died’ database states that he ‘killed in action
Although his original grave was at map reference G 28 b 4. 6. - located near the corner of Rue De Cambrai in Arras and his body was later re-interned in the Faubourg D’Amiens Cemetery, Arras, France, along with several others.
Additional Information
After his death £2 0s 1d was authorised to go to joint legacies George and Elizabeth, his widow/father/mother xx on 11 October 1917. Later, a war gratuity of £3 was authorised to them on 12 December 1919.
His pension cards record Martha Elizabeth as his widow and next of kin with her address as “Inmate Severalls Asylum, Colchester, Essex. She was awarded a pension of 13s 9d a week from 19 November 1917. This was paid to Mr F R Long “ Collected to Saffron Walden Union for main tenants(?) of Mrs Gates wife’s sister Mrs Gibbons, Deards End Cottages, Knebworth Herts. another note states “Payable to Mr James ? Long. Collector of the guardians 21 Audley Rd, Saffron Walden (for widow)
*1 Severalls Asylum and it opened as the Second Essex County Asylum in May 1913
Acknowledgments
Derry Warners, Brenda Palmer
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
