Name
George Alfred Thake
16 April 1882
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
18/09/1914
32
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Sergeant
621
Military Police Corps
Military Mounted Police
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LA FERTE-SOUS-JOUARRE MEMORIAL
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Much Hadham Village Memorial,
St Andrew’s Church Memorial, Much Hadham,
Stone Bench Plaque, Much Hadham, Congregational Church Memorial, Hadham Cross,
Not on the Bishop's Stortford memorials
Pre War
George Alfred Thake was born on 16 April 1882 in Bishop's Stortford to George and Elizabeth (Betsy) Thake and baptised on 11 June 1882 at Much Hadham, Herts. On the 1891 Census the family were living at Much Hadham, where his father was a hay binder and they were still living there in 1901 but George was already a serving soldier, having enlisted at Bishop's Stortford on 2 November 1900, and he was living as a Trooper in the Cavalry Barracks at Windsor. By the 1911 Census he was a Military Policeman living at Pirbright Camp, nr Woking, Surrey. He married Evelyn Nellie Collier in early 1914 in Elham, Kent.
Wartime Service
He was already a serving solder at the outbreak of war and served in France from 22 August 1914. In 1914, during the retreat from Mons, the Military Police were busy trying to help reunite those soldiers who had got separated from their units. This happened for many reasons including, confusion from battle, exhaustion or just 'absent without leave'. He died during the first Battle of the Aisne.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £8 and pay owing of £13 12s 2d. She also received a pension of 11 shillings a week. She later remarried to Arthur Campbell in 1917.
On the Much Hadham War memorial he is named as a Sgt in the 1st Lifeguards.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Malcolm Lennox, “Lest We Forget – Much Hadham 1914-18” by Richard Maddams (Much Hadham Forge Museum)
