Name
George J B Conolly
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
03/06/1917
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
487487
Canadian Infantry
46th Bn.
'D' Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
VILLERS STATION CEMETERY, VILLERS-AU-BOIS
IX. C. 5.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
St Edmunds College Memorial, Old Hall Green
Biography
The following text was transcribed from The Edmundian (1814-1819) – The contemporary magazine of St Edmund’s College:
Many of our boys who have gone far afield after fame and fortune have had the right spirit, and, particularly in their country's need, the homing instinct. From the outer readies of the Empire they have come after a greater fame, letting the fortune they sought look to itself. One such was George Conolly, the youngest child of the late John C. Conolly and his wife Church and Army have been represented in the family, Mgr. Canon Hall, and General Conolly of the Guards being among his uncles. After two years spent at St, Edmund's 1909-1911) whither he came from Bishop's Court, Freshfield, he made his way to Canada, where from the outset good fortune attended him, and a Splendid future seemed to be opening out before him. Like others of the Conollys, he was an open-air man, spewing no small talent in out-door sports; among other things, he was a fine horseman and a splendid shot. When war broke out, he had hardly made a complete recovery from a bout of pneumonia, yet at once he volunteered, and was rejected as unfit. Admirably undaunted he again volunteered in 1915, and this time was passed as fit into the 46th Canadian Infantry Regiment. Before long he went to the French front, where he passed unscathed through some of the thickest of the fighting; at the Somme, at the Ancre and at Vimy Ridge. Throughout, he was a thoroughly popular man, and a reliable.
On the night of June the 3rd of this year he was. in the words of an officer of his Battalion "chosen to do special work which required men in whom we had utmost confidence." It involved the taking of a machine gun emplacement. When, proceeding on this mission, George and his comrades emerged from a railway tunnel, a shell fell in the midst of them, killing him and wounding three others. George was killed outright. This happened at Avion behind Lens. He is buried at Fillers au Bois. At the end of his fetter the officer above mentioned speaks of the consolation there is in knowing that he gave his life for such a "noble cause, and in such a noble manner." Requiem Mass was offered for him on the receipt of the news, his friends elsewhere may he sure that he is in prayers and they in our sympathy are not forgotten here.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Di Vanderson, The Edmundian (1814-1819) – The contemporary magazine of St Edmund’s College
