Name
George William Worsley
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
15/02/1942
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
5832341
Cambridgeshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
KRANJI WAR CEMETERY
Sp. Mem. 18. A. 14.
Singapore
Headstone Inscription
SLEEP ON, BELOVED YOUR LIFE YOU NOBLY GAVE. EVER IN OUR THOUGHTS
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin
Biography
He was born in Hertfordshire and was resident in the county at the time he enlisted. He was in the 1st Battalion with the Service Number 5832341 and was killed in action on the day Singapore was surrendered to the Japanese.
They had arrived in Singapore as part of the 18th (Eastern) Division on the S.S. ‘West Point’ on the 29th/30th January 1942. On the 8th February the Japanese attacked across the Straits and the Australians, who bore the brunt of the initial assault, fell back in disorder. The Battalion fought valiantly but the Division had been fragmented. A dreadful catalogue of errors by senior officers.
He is buried in Plot 18, Row A, Grave 14 in Special Memorial ‘C’ in Kranji War Cemetery in Singapore. His memorial stone is marked "Buried near this spot" and has the additional inscription "Sleep on beloved, your life you nobly gave, ever in our thoughts."
There is also an inscription to him on a grave in Hitchin Cemetery to his mother who died in 1955 and his father who died in 1958. The inscription reads "Pte George William Worsley son of the above killed in action 15th February 1942”.
He was the son of George and Emma E. Worsley of Hitchin.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Army Roll of Honour 1939-19 45 Database, Paul Johnson - local historian, ‘Battalion at War’ by M. Moore
