Category: Military
Rank: Private
Regiment or Ship: The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment); Labour Corps.
Service Number(s): 32255; 55435
Date of Birth: 23.05.1884
Place of Birth: Lavant, Sussex
Date of Death: 18.02.1919
Place of Death: France
Place of Burial / Memorials:
Longuenesse (St Omer) Souvenir Cemetery. V.F.29
Address: Bexhill on Sea
Photos and newspaper articles
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Family Information
Parents: William Henry Irish (1844-1918) and Sarah Ann Irish, nee Aldred, (1846-1908).
Siblings: Alice (1870-1914), Sidney Charles (1885-1940), and Margaret Lucy (1889-1988)
George married Sarah Ann Jones (1885-1954) in East Grinstead in 1915. In his probate records George left £183 to his widow Sarah Ann Irish.
First World War Experience
We know very little about George’s war service as his records did not survive but we do know that he received the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.
His death was reported in a local Bexhill newspaper and read:
“The death is officially reported of Private G. E. Irish, 55435, 2nd Labour Corps of Bexhill.
He is buried in the Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery, reference V.F.29, in St. Omer, France. There as 3397 casualties in that cemetery. George’s records at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission say that his widow was then living at Oliver House, Ross, Herefordshire.