Name
George Roberts
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
305443
Labour Corps
126th
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
There were two George Roberts, both listed in the Parish Magazine of September 1915. The first George Roberts enlisted during 1914, but after July, and was serving in the 1st Hertfordshire Regiment. The report also recorded that he was wounded. The second man was recorded as George Roberts (senior), who enlisted during August 1915 and served in the Army Service Corps. Len Blackburn, Sidney George’s son-in-law, confirms that he was commonly known as George.
Careful analysis of the several newspaper cuttings that refer to George Roberts reveals that they all seem to relate to Sidney George (next entry), and very little information was available for George until his service record was found. They revealed that he was born in 1871. In 1915, he was working as carpenter, with his address being in Great Green. He had married Georgina Stanbridge on October 31st 1898 and they had two children: Lewis (b 1902) and Harold Joseph (b 1912). He signed his attestation papers in London on July 3rd 1915, aged forty-four, and became Private 13610 in the Army Service Corps (ASC). Labour was desperately needed in France to free up first line troops to fight, so he went to France very quickly, embarking on July 18th on the S.S. Lydid and then, within a month, had transferred to the 16th Labour Company. In November 1916 he was treated in hospital for multiple abrasions, which happened while he was loading hay on to trucks at the base supply depot. He suffered another injury and was again treated in hospital in December, this time a contusion (bruising) at the upper end of his tibia; however, this injury was not while on duty. In February 1917 the Labour Corps was formed and, in August, he was transferred to it.
By the end of the war, he was recorded as Private 305443, 126th Labour Corps, and was demobilised on March 22nd 1919, by which time his home address was 7 Dunstable Street, Ampthill.
Acknowledgments
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission
