Name
George Dunn
19 Dec 1890
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
17/02/1917
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
36293
Royal Berkshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
REGINA TRENCH CEMETERY, GRANDCOURT
VIII. F. 3.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor,
Not on the Tring memorials,
Not listed on the Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
George Dunn was born in Tring on 19 December 1890, the son of George and Alice Dunn, and baptised there on 4 February 1891. He was one of five children and had an older half sister Ellen who was born to his mother before she married his father.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 16 Albert Street, Tring, where his father was working as a General Servant (Domestic). By 1911 they had moved to 23 Eastville Road, Bedford, at which time his father was a cricket professional and groundsman at Elstow School, Kempston, Beds and George was working as a labourer in engineering.
George moved to the Apsley area of Hemel Hempstead sometime after 1911 where he met and married Olive Sears. They married at Redbourn, near St Albans in 1915 and had a daughter Frances Georgina born on 23 March 1917 who he never met as he was killed before she was born.
He was said to be living in Hemel Hempstead on enlistment and his widow later lived at Church End, Redbourn, Herts.
Wartime Service
George initially enlisted in Hertford and served with the Hertfordshire Regiment (Reg No. 5626), suggesting that he enlisted between 2nd October and 1st November 1915. He was sent for basic training and six months later was sent to France in May/June 1916 where he was transferred to the 6th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment.
He was killed in action on 17 February 1917, aged 26, during an attack on the Grandcourt front line near Bapaume and is buried in Regina Trench Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £5 and pay owing of £2 19s. She also received a pension of 18s 9d a week for herself and her child.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org., www.hemelheroes.com.
