George Thomas Britton

Memorial: Kingswood - Holy Trinity Church

Regiment: Royal Engineers

Medals: British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Lance Corporal 498069

Parents: George and Sarah Britton

Marital status: Married

Home address: 6 Air Balloon Hill, St. George, Bristol

Pre-war occupation: Mason

Date of birth: 1876

Place of birth: Hanham, Bristol

Date of death: 12/03/1919

Buried/Commemorated at: Buried at Hanham (Christ Church) Churchyard, Gloucestershire and commemorated on Kingswood Holy Trinity Memorial

Age: 43

Further information:

George was born in Hanham the son of a labourer and a middle child of five with two sisters and two brothers. He married Caroline Oram Wiltshire in 1900 and they had three children, Dorothy Edith, Oliver George and May Isabel. His youngest child was just 5 years old when he died.

George enlisted in July 1915 and was made up to Lance Corporal in May 1916 when his company (the 476th Field Company) went over to France with the British Expeditionary Force. He served on the Western Front for two years before returning home in May of 1918 following a gunshot wound to his head. George was injured on 14th April 1918 during The Battle of the Lys (9 Apr 1918 – 29 Apr 1918). He was one of 119,000 casualties and was awarded a wound stripe for his injury. He was treated in two hospitals whilst abroad, then placed under the care of 2nd Southern General Hospital in Bristol. The injury caused blindness in his left eye and head pain and he died at home 11 months later from cerebral compression due to the rupture of an abscess caused by the presence of a piece of shrapnel in his brain.

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

This 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/