George Britton

Memorial: Downend - Christ Church

Regiment: Royal Garrison Artillery

Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Silver War Badge, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Gunner 158412

Parents: George and Lily Britton

Marital status: Single

Home address: Home Address: 4 Gloucester Road, Soundwell, Staple Hill, Bristol. Lived: 11 Balls Common, Soundwell, Bristol (1901 Census)

Pre-war occupation: Unknown

Date of birth: 10/03/1898

Place of birth: Mangotsfield, Bristol

Date of death: 30/11/1917

Buried/Commemorated at: No Known burial site but commemorated on Cambrai Memorial, Louverval, France and on Kingswood Holy Trinity Memorial and Christ Church – Downend Memorial

Age: 19

Further information:

George was born in Mangotsfield, the son of a coal miner and the second eldest of seven children with four sisters and two brothers.

George Britton served with the 354th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery and was killed during the Cambrai Operations (20 November – 30 December 1917) a large-scale British attack that employed new artillery techniques and massed tanks. Initially it was very successful with large gains of ground being made, but ten days later, a counter-attack regained much of the ground and the cost in allied casualties was high at 44,000. On the 30th November 1917 George was reported by the Red Cross as missing and wounded and a probable prisoner of war, although this was changed 3 months later to presumed killed when his mother who was notified. George’s body was never found and the memorial where he is remembered commemorates those who died in the Battle of Cambrai in November and December 1917.

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Findmypast (Soldiers Died during the Great War, 1901 & 1911 Census etc), Researcher John Davis
Some information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/