George William Tanner

Memorial: South Gloucestershire war dead not on a local memorial

Regiment: South Wales Borderers

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

Rank and number: Private 30296

Parents: Emma Margaret and Harry Tanner

Marital status: Married

Home address: Home Address: School House, Westerleigh, Chipping Sodbury, Bristol. Lived: 1 Railway Cottages, Peniel Green, Llansamlet, Swansea

Pre-war occupation: Labourer at the tinplate works

Date of birth: 1885

Place of birth: Eastville, Bristol

Date of death: 22/11/1917

Buried/Commemorated at: No known burial site. Commemorated at Cambrai Memorial, Louverval, Nord, France. Not commemorated on a local memorial.

Age: 31

Further information:

: George was born in Eastville, Bristol, the son of a schoolmaster and the youngest child of four children with two sisters and a brother. In 1901, the family were living in Westerleigh while George's father was teaching at the elementary school and one of his sisters was working as an assistant schoolmistress. At that time, George was employed as a Railway Store Office lad. By 1911, George had moved to Swansea where he was working as a labourer and where he ultimately settled and married Lavinia Frances Stevens in 1915. Their son Edwin was born the following year and was aged just 17 months when George died.

George's battalion (the 12th) mobilised to France in November 1916, where they fought in the Battles of the Somme and in pursuit of the German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line. George was killed in action on the third day of the Battle of Cambrai (20th November 1917 - 6th December 1917) which was the first time that the army had used a large number of tanks without preliminary artillery bombardment. After an initial success, the Germans came back in force and the outcome of the battle was indecisive with heavy casualties on both sides. George's body was never found and the Cambrai Memorial where George is remembered, commemorates more than 7,000 servicemen from Britain and South Africa who died in the Battle of Cambrai and whose graves are not known.

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/