Name
George Garner
1885
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
09/10/1917
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
3/8087
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 48 to 50 and 162A.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial
Pre War
George Garner was born on 11 April 1885 in Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, the son of George and Ann Garner, and one of 8 children, although the youngest, Ethel died in infancy.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at 39 Puller Road, Hemel Hempstead where his father was working as a day labourer.
George was educated at Boxmoor School from 1892 and successfully completed five of the seven standards, leaving school on 30 January 1898.
His mother died in 1896 and his father remarried in 1898 to Florence Annie Barber. She was a widow with four children and they had two more children in 1900 and 1902. Another sister, Daisy died in 1907, aged 18.
On the 1901 Census, the family were living at 39 Puller Road, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a Gardener Domestic and George was working as a sawyer at the saw mills.
George enlisted into the Militia in 1906, as many young men did to supplement their income, and joined the 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment to serve four years, however he bought his discharge for £1 in April 1908. His character was said to be "inefficient". At that time he was living with his sister Lizzie and brother William at 5 Woodbine Cottages, George Street, Berkhamsted, Herts.
By the time of the 1911 Census he had moved to Watford and was boarding with the Collins family on Sutton Road. He was working as a Wireman for the National Telephone Company, later taken over by the General Post Office (GPO) in 1912.
His father later lived at 12 Puller Road, Hemel Hempstead.
Wartime Service
Having been in the Militia, George was one of the first to be recalled at the outbreak of war, and he went to Watford in September 1914 to rejoin the Bedfordshire Regiment. He was posted to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion for training and then transferred to the 7th (Service) Battalion which arrived in France on 26 July 1915.
His first major action was the Battle of Albert on 1 July 1916, the opening attack of the Somme Offensive, followed by the Battle of Bazentin Ridge two weeks later where he was wounded, treated in a base hospital and repatriated to England for recovery.
He returned to the Front in early 1917 and was posted to the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment which was then situated in Belgium. They were in action at the Battle of Arras in April and the third Battle of Scarpe in May. Later the same year he was involved in the Battle of Poelcapelle in October. This was an unsuccessful action due to a well entrenched enemy, heavy machine gun fire and poor weather conditions in which the Battalion incurred heavy casualties, of which George was one. He was killed in action on 9 October 1917, aged 32, but has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium.
Additional Information
His father received a pension of 4s a week. His sister, Lizzie Foskett received a war gratuity of £14 and pay owing of £3 18s 4d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
www.hemelheroes.com.
