Name
George Lamb
1877
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
08/03/1915
38
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
13818
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 31 and 33.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
St Mary's Church Memorial, Apsley End,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley,
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial
Pre War
George Lamb was born in 1877 in Wendover, Bucks, the son of Harry and Annie Lamb, and one of seven children. On the 1881 Census the family were living at Aylesbury Road, Wendover, close to the Grand Union Canal, where his father was working as a Boatman. By the 1891 Census they had moved to Hemel Hempstead where they were living at 5 Catlin Street. His father was a Canal Boatman and George was a House Boy (Servant). He later started work at John Dickinson & Co., paper manufacturers where he met his future wife.
He married Sarah Elizabeth Welch on 3 January 1897 at St Paul's Church, Hemel Hempstead, Herts and they lived at 65 Queen Street, Hemel Hempstead.
His mother died in 1898 and his father was living and working as a servant at the Bell Inn, Two Waters in 1901.
On the 1911 Census, George and his wife Sarah were living at 18 Austins Yard, Hemel Hempstead with their five children. George, Nellie, Charles, William and Albert, and he was working as a Book Edge Gilder. He was employed at John Dickinson & Co, Apsley Mills in the Book Department. They later had two more children, John and Bernard, and lived at 7 Frogmore Crescent, Apsley End, Herts. George was employed as a card edge gilder which was a skilled job and when he volunteered for the army the John Dickinson Company paid half of his wages to his wife from the time of his enlistment.
Wartime Service
At the outbreak of war, George was one of the first to enlist, joining in Hertford sometime between 29 August and 1 September 1914, and served with the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment in France from 3 December 1914.
He was killed in action on 8 March 1915, aged 38, when the 1st Battalion were situated in trenches on the banks of the canal south of Ypres and were subjected to shelling and sniping during the day.
He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £4 5s. She also initially received a pension of £1 9s a week for herself and her children, which decreased as each child reached the age of 16.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org. www.hemelheroes.com
