Name
George Walker
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
2158
Royal Garrison Artillery
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
By cross-referencing the undated newspaper cuttings in the village scrapbook with parish and census records, only one possible candidate has been identified. He was born on June 23rd 1882 to James and Selina Walker (née Goldsmith). In all it would appear that three brothers served and survived - refer to Charles Walker for more family details.
The 1911 census reveals that he was living around Great Green and had been married to Ellen for four years. Four children had been born, but two had died. At this time only two can be identified with certainty; they are Alice (b c1908) and Bernard (b 1910). So, by the time he went to war he was married and a father.
George is recorded in the Parish Magazine of September 1915 as enlisting during 1914, but after July, and serving as a Gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA). Two undated newspaper cuttings confirm this, and so he would have been thirty-three when he enlisted. The discovery of his service record reveals his military background but little about his war service.
In fact he had served with the RGA before the war, enlisting at eighteen and signing his attestation papers on March 14th 1900 when he joined the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Royal Garrison Artillery as Gunner 3398. He married Ellen Buckett on November 24th 1906 and she accompanied him on at least some of his service. George served in South Africa, both in the 1899 campaign and in the Transvaal in 1901. He also got postings to Bermuda and Halifax. He completed his twelve years service and left the army on March 13th 1912, but when war came duty called and he re-enlisted as Gunner 2158 on September 7th 1914.
He was stationed on an island off the coast of Ireland guarding a harbour mouth. One letter home, written in December 1914, names this as Bantry Bay, West Ireland. He wrote that he was grateful for the gift of a jersey and added that ‘It’s rained and rained and land’s like a pond. I’m position finder for the guns’. In another letter to the vicar of Pirton, he wrote ‘a soldier must do his duty and do it well.’ On a short visit home his friends described him as looking well and fit. The North Herts Mail reported that he was home between January and February 1915, presumably the same leave, and adds that ‘he is sight ranging on coastal defences. Looked well. His section had come out A1 on firing contest with regulars.’
Another, the undated newspaper cutting, recorded that he had rejoined his Regiment after being in hospital for a leg wound – this would have been in 1917 unless he was wounded twice.
The North Herts Mail of April 12th 1917 reports that ‘home’ was opposite the post office, and that his parent lived in Pollards Cottages. He had been in France since August 1915, but he had also been to South Africa with his Regiment and had been promoted from Corporal to Serjeant. A later edition, dated June 7th 1917, reports that Serjeant George Walker had been shot below the knee.
The 1918 Absent Voters’ List records him as Private (contradicting the North Herts Mail) 2158 Royal Garrison Artillery, with his home address as Great Green.
Acknowledgments
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission
