Name
George Randle
16/07/1888
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
11/11/1914
26
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
8719
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star (with Clasp & Roses), British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BOULOGNE EASTERN CEMETERY
III. C. 22.
France
Headstone Inscription
FROM HIS LOVING FATHER AND MOTHER AND SISTERS GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
UK & Other Memorials
St Thomas' Mission Hall, Green Tye, St Thomas' Church Memorial, Perry Green, Much Hadham Village Memorial, St Andrew’s Church Memorial Much Hadham, Stone Bench Plaque, Much Hadham, Congregational Church Memorial, Hadham Cross, Not on the Hunsdon memorials
Pre War
George Randle was born on 16 July 1888, in Hunsdon (Much Hadham in one of three census), Hertfordshire (depending on the document) son of George Randle an Agricultural Worker and Eliza (nee Hardy) Randle. Christened on 2 September 1888, in Much Hadham, Herts.
1891 Census records George aged 2, living with his parents, and two sisters Hetty (1) and Ellen (3 months) at, Oliver’s Farm Cottages, Whitehall, Hunsdon, Herts.
1901 Census records George aged 12, living with his parents, three sisters and brother Edward (1) at , The Cross, Much Hadham, Herts.
In October 1906, George travelled to Bedford, and enlisted in the Bedfordshire Militia with the service number 5695, a month later he transferred to the regular army, 2nd, Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment with the service number 8719.
1911 Census records George as, single, aged 22, a Private in “B” Company, 2nd, Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, and stationed in Bermuda.
Wartime Service
At the outbreak of war George was still serving with the Bedfordshire Regiment. He embarked aboard the S.S. Winifredian at Southampton with his Battalion on 5 October 1914, after a number of delays they disembarked at Zeebrugge, Belgium on 7 October 1914. Seeing action at the front, he was wounded in action the following month and died of his wounds on 11 November 1914, probably in hospital in Boulogne.
2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment War Diary Notes:
On 7th October 1914, the 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment disembarked the S.S. Winifredian at Zeebrugge. They made their way to the front line, having their first contact with the enemy on 18 October. During November, the British trenches were shelled several times. The Regiment's war diary notes that one man was wounded on the 9th and two were wounded on the 10th, by shell fire near Chateau Rossignol.
It seems likely that George died of his wounds received in one of these attacks after being taken a hospital in Boulogne.
Additional Information
His effects of £11-5-10, Pay Owing and a War Gratuity of £5, went to his mother Eliza. His service record for 1906, when he enlisted in the Militia is available at the National Archives at Kew, London. George's brother, Rifleman Edward Randle was killed in Action on 29 September 1918, aged 19.
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne
Malcolm Lennox, “Lest We Forget – Much Hadham 1914-18” by Richard Maddams (Much Hadham Forge Museum), Jonty Wild
