George Edward Dyer
Memorial: Olveston
Regiment: Somerset Light Infantry
Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Victory Medal
Rank and number: Private 16002
Parents: Alfred and Rhoda Harriet Dyer
Home address: The Fox, Old Down, Bristol
Date of birth: 1898
Place of birth: Old Down, Bristol
Date of death: 25/08/1917
Buried/Commemorated at: Happy Valley British Cemetery (A. 14.), Fampoux to the east of Arras, France
Age: 19
Further information:
George Edward Dyer was the only son of Alfred and Rhoda Dyer who ran The Fox on Old Down. George’s sisters were Hester, Elsie, Lena, Ada and Lucy. Their father, Alfred died in 1902 and being a widow running a public house the magistrates were against renewing the licence in Rhoda’s name. The subsequent marriage of Rhoda to Arthur Fry secured the business and Mrs Rhoda Fry gave birth to a further daughter, Dorothy and a second son, Alfred. George and Alfred, with their sisters attended Old Down Infant School and the Olveston and Elberton National School
Along with Arthur Dyer, George enlisted in Bristol on November 7th 1914 and was assigned to the 8th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry. These 17 year-old young men trained together at Leighton Buzzard and Halton Camp in Buckinghamshire. At the end of training in August 1915 George was given leave, which he spent at Old Down. Then the Battalion arrived in France and took part in the action at Loos. On the first day, September 25th 1915, George was wounded with shrapnel in his body and a bullet penetrating two toes. He was repatriated and hospitalised in Manchester. His recuperation was at 2nd Southern Hospital, which was the army designation for the Bristol Royal Infirmary; he spent some time at Almondsbury Hospital and was able to spend Christmas at home with the family. After returning to France he was eventually transferred to the 1st Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry on the 22nd of May 1917. George’s war diary shows that he was in contact with others from this area, particularly Eddie Stockwell, Fred Hiron, George Russell, George Thatcher and William Fivash, who was killed on July 19th 1916. The diary records that Leonard Curtis joined the army on Sept 5th 1914, fought in the Dardanelles in 1915 and at the end of that campaign came home with dysentery at Christmas 1915. He then served in France for the next two years, being wounded on July 16th 1917 in the left arm and knee after which he had further home leave. The diary also records that Arthur Dyer was initially posted as missing on April 9th 1917 and that William Poole was wounded on July 1st 1917 then reported missing later that year
The 1st Battalion was part of the 11th Brigade within the Third Army and had had a relatively quiet period during the summer of 1917 in the area of the Scarpe Valley near Pelves. However, on August 17th four of the Battalion were wounded by heavy German shelling and nine wounded by mortar fire on the 24th. George Dyer was one of the wounded and he died on the 25th of August and is buried in Happy Valley Cemetery near Fampoux to the east of Arras. His mother refused to have the chestnut tree that he had planted at The Fox removed during her lifetime and at the beginning of the 21st century, there is a preservation order on it
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
Forces War Records and CWGC