Name
George Harry Purton
1892
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
06/08/1916
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
10442
Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CORBIE COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
Plot 2. Row A. Grave 50.
France
Headstone Inscription
HIS COUNTRY CALLED HE ANSWERED WITH HIS LIFE FROM DEAR MOTHER.
UK & Other Memorials
British Thomson Houston Company Memorial, Rugby, Rugby War Memorial Gates, Rugby, Not on the Boxmoor or Hemel Hempstead memorials,
Pre War
George Harry Purton was born in Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, Herts in 1892, son of Harry and Saran Purton of Boxmoor and one of 6 children, although 2 died in infancy.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 76 Oxford Street, Rugby, and his father was working as a Railway Brakesman. They had moved to 125 Oxford Street by 1911 and his father was working as a Pointsman on the railway but George was not living with them.
Prior to enlistment, George and his younger brother Ernest both worked for the British Thomson Houston Company in Rugby which made electric motors, generators and turbines.
His father died in 1912 and his mother gave her address on pension records as 121 Oxford Street, Rugby.
Wartime Service
George enlisted in Rugby, Warwickshire and served in the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. (N.B. His brother Ernest was also in the 2nd Battalion and served in France from 26 May 1915). Although most records list George as Private, the CWGC records his rank as Lance Corporal.
The 2nd Battalion took part in the Battle of the Somme in 1916 when they attacked the German lines from Delville Wood towards Guillemont and Ginchy on 30 July and sustained heavy casualties. George died of wounds on 6 August 1916, age 24 and is buried at Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension, France.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £9 and pay owing of £3 0s 6d. She also received a pension of 5 shillings a week. IWM War Memorials Register lists a J G H Purton named on the Rugby Town Memorial. His brother Ernest was discharged from service on 3 January 1916 because of disability and survived the war.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
www. dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.rugbyremembers,wordpress.com
