Name
George William Bryant
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
1878534
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Battalion
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
George Bryant was included in the first Roll of Honour listed in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine in September 1914. He was listed with the Bedfordshire’s and his Medal Roll indicated that he joined the 2nd Bedfordshire’s on 11th November 1914. George was recorded with the Bedfordshire’s throughout the War, and in the Autumn 1918 and Spring 1919 Absent Voters Records he was still serving with the 2nd Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment, so it is assumed that he remained with this unit throughout the War.
The 2nd Bedfordshire’s fought in most of the major battles of the War. The Battalion initially comprised regular soldiers and reservists and departed for Flanders on 5th October 1914, before George joined up. After serving in the defence of Ypres in November 1914, where it was unlikely that George will have been involved, the 2nd Bedford’s fought at Neuve Chappelle, Festubert, Givenchy and Loos in 1915. The battalion served in several phases of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and in 1917 they fought throughout the Battle of Arras in April 1917, at Messines in June and at Pilkem during the Third Battle of Ypres in July and August. In 1918 they faced the German Army throughout the Spring Offensive, and then became involved in many actions between August and November, pushing the enemy back, and eventually ending the War.
George was reported sick/wounded in the July 1917 Parish Magazine. He was probably wounded during the Bedford’s time in the Front Line at Observatory Ridge near Ypres. In the days after 7th June the battalion recorded 16 men killed, 63 wounded, 3 gassed, and 2 suffering from Shell Shock. In the December 1917 Magazine George was once again reported wounded. During the previous month the 2nd Bedford’s had been in the area of “The Chinese Wall” in the Hollebeke Sector near St Elooi, south of Ypres, and suffered a slow trickle of men being evacuated either sick or wounded.
In September 1918 the Parish Magazine recorded that George was a Prisoner of War, and was in a camp in Germany. The Bedford’s had been in the Front Line on 21st March, when the German Army launched it’s Spring Offensive. The British Army hastily retreated and between 21st and 31st March 1918, the 2nd Bedfordshire’s recorded 15 Officers and 554 Other Ranks were lost, killed, wounded or missing. Many of the missing men were taken prisoner in the rapid German advance. The Parish Magazine announced in January 1919, that George Bryant had been welcomed home.
George was one of three brothers recorded in the 1911 Census living with their parents, George (senior) and Sarah Bryant at “Hudscus Cottages” Porridge Hill, Bedmond. George (senior) worked as a Waggoner on a Farm, and George (junior), who had been born in Berkhamsted in 1896, was employed as an Odd Job Man in a Paper Mill.
George’s brother Percy served with the Queen’s Royal West Surrey’s, his other brother, Walter emigrated to New Zealand at some point, and returned to serve with the New Zealand Contingent. It was recorded in the Parish Magazine in December 1918 that Walter had been Discharged Disabled. All of the brothers survived the War.
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
