Name
George Edward Cole
1887
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
21/09/1914
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
7866
East Yorkshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star (with Clasp & Roses), British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
VENDRESSE BRITISH CEMETERY
Troyon Chyd. Mem. 33.
France
Headstone Inscription
ALWAYS LOVED, EVER REMEMBERED
UK & Other Memorials
Berkhamsted Town Memorial, St Michael & All Saints (Sunnyside) Church Memorial, Berkhamsted, Diocese - Book of Remembrance, St Albans Cathedral, St Albans, Diocese of St Albans - ROH, St Albans Cathedral, St Albans
Pre War
George Edward Cole was born in 1887 in Portsea Island, Hampshire, the son of Thomas and Emma Cole and one of six children.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at 12 Garvan Road, Fulham, London where his father was working as a bricklayer's labourer. His father died in 1899, aged 45, and on the 1901 Census George was living with his widowed mother and sister Clara at 25 Playfair Street, Fulham where his mother was working as a charwoman and George was working as a van boy (carman). In 1911 he was boarding in home of the Neville family at 10 Grass Oak Road, Great Berkhamsted, with his profession given as dairyman and groom.
He married Lilian Phoebe Laughton in early 1912 and they had a daughter Gertrude, born on 20 July 1912 and baptised on 25 August 1912 St Thomas's Church, Hammersmith, London. He is said to have worked as a Groom prior to enlistment.
Wartime Service
He was a serving soldier at the outbreak of war, having enlisted in 1904, and joining the East Yorkshire Regiment. He served with the 1st Battalion in France from 10 September 1914 when they landed at St Nazaire.
George was killed in action on 21 September 1914, aged 28, and is buried in Vendresse British Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £5 and pay owing of £2 7s 1d. She also received a pension of 15 shillings a week for herself and her daughter and later lived at 108 Dunstan Road, Hammersmith, London.
The St Albans Cathedral Diocese records suggest a connection to Berkhamsted (Great Berkhamsted). This is probably because George's widow was born in Berkhamsted and living in Great Berkhamsted in 1911. She later remarried in the summer of 1918 in Berkhamsted, to George Bashford
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
