Name
George Spurr
1883
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
02/11/1917
34
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
33286
Royal Fusiliers *1
36th Bn. *1
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
DOZINGHEM MILITARY CEMETERY
XIV. D. 14.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead
Pre War
George Spurr was born in 1883 in Hemel Hempstead, the son of George and Sarah Ann Spurr, and one of nine children. although three died in infancy. He was baptised at St Paul's Church, Hemel Hempstead on 20 December 1883.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at 11 Cherry Bounce, Hemel Hempstead. where his father was working as a Farm Labourer. They remained at Cherry Bounce in 1901 but had moved to No. 16. His father was then a general labourer.
George started worked as a Tan Yard Labourer for Henry Balderson at Cornhall in Hemel Hempstead.
At the time of the 1911 Census, although remaining in Cherry Bounce, the family had moved again to No. 9 at which time his father was working as a Farm Labourer and George was then working as a Carman for a corn merchant.
His parents had moved to 86 High Street, Hemel Hempstead by the end of the war.
Wartime Service
George enlisted in Bedford and joined the Royal Fusiliers (City of London) Regiment, (reg. no. 35286) being posted to the 36th Battalion which was one of the labour battalions. He was later transferred to the 106th Labour Company (reg. no. 63455) after the labour battalions were reorganised in April 1917. They were not fighting troops but were often working on or close to the front line and played a vital role.
He was wounded in action during the Second Battle of Passchendaele and died of wounds in France on 2 November 1917, aged 34. He is buried in Dozinghem Military Cemetery, Belgium.
Additional Information
His mother received a pension of 11 shillings and 6 pence a week in respect of both George and his brother John. Brother to Albert who served with the Bedfordshire Regiment and was killed in action on 9 October 1917 at the Battle of Poelcapelle and John who served with the Middlesex Regiment and was injured when he fell from a lorry in Norwich, and died shortly after from pulmonary tuberculosis on 17 June 1918.
*1 Believed more correctly, (County of London) Bn. London Regiment – some sources suggest (City of London) and that it was a Labour Battalion.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com., www.dacorumheritage.org.uk
