Name
George Edward Clifford
5 June 1888
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
27/07/1916
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
R/12943
King's Royal Rifle Corps
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 13 A and 13 B.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Boxmoor memorials
Pre War
George Edward Clifford was born in Mortlake, Surrey on 5 June 1888, the son of George and Laura Clifford, and baptised on 26 April 1891 at St Matthew's Church, Bayswater. They were then living at 7 Park Terrace, East Sheen, Mortlake, where his father was a Grocer. He had a younger sister, Ivy.
He was listed on the 1891 Census living with his widowed aunt Mary A Clifford and cousin Eliza at Richmond Road, Mortlake, where his aunt was a General Shopkeeper.
On the 1901 Census he was living with his parents at Kiln Farm, Amersham, Bucks, where his father was the farmer, but they had moved to Richmond in Surrey by 1911 where his father was the licensed victualler of the The Cricketers public house, on the green.
He married Winifred Gwendoline Messenger on 22 April 1915 at Islington Register Office. They had a child Gwendoline Joan Ivy on 26 September 1915 and lived at 50 Chapel Street, Islington on pension records.
He was said to be living at Boxmoor on enlistment according to SDGW although his recruitment form gives his address as 82 Inwood Road, Hounslow and he was working as a butcher.
N.B. Following his death, his widow gave her address as Moor End, London Road, Boxmoor on military forms. The Minister, W P Macdonald, whose address was Green End House, Boxmoor certified that the statement and declaration made on the form regarding his relatives was true.
Wartime Service
George enlisted at Holloway, Middx on 17 May 1915 and served as a Rifleman with the 1st Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps, reaching the rank of Lance Corporal on 21 September 1915. He was sent to France on 2 November 1915,
He was killed in action on 27 July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £4 10s and pay owing of £2 14s 8d. She also received a pension of 15 shillings a week for herself and her child.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
