George Williams was born in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, in 1895. One of ten children, his parents were George and Sarah. When George Sr died in 1908, his widow was left to raise the family herself. By the time of the 1911 census, all of the children were still living at home, and four of them, including George Jr, who was working as a labourer, were bringing in a wage.

When conflict broke out, George stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry before the end of 1914 and, as a Private, was assigned to the 8th Battalion.

Little information is available about George’s military life and, indeed, the only other details available for him are that of his passing, based on reports available in a contemporary newspaper.

About half-past eight on Thursday [3rd June 1915] the body of a soldier was found in the river at Bath… The corpse was in a somewhat advanced state of decomposition, its condition suggesting it may have been in the river about three weeks. The man had on his full regimentals, with top coat.

Papers found in the pocket indicate that the deceased is Private George Williams, of the 8th Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, now encamped at Sutton Veny, Wilts. This regiment was quartered in Bath during the winter, and left the city some weeks ago.

There are.. no marks of violence on the body.

There was found on the body a pass dated 14th May, giving him three days’ leave. The leave expired at 11:55pm on May 17th. The permit allowed him to proceed to Birmingham. There was also found on the deceased a telegram addressed to 22 Green Street, West Bromwich, which said “Leave extended.”

The supposition is that Williams returned as far as Bath, on his way back to camp, by Midland Railway, and when in the city by some means or other fell into the river.

Curiously enough, the Bath police had been advised of the absence without leave from camp at Sutton Veny of a soldier of the same name. But in this case the man belonged to the 10th Devons. They had received no notification regarding Private Williams of the 8th Cornwalls.

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 5th June 1915

The telegram mentioned in the report is likely one sent to George’s family, who was living at 22 Queen Street (possibly an error on the newspaper’s part).

George was just 20 years old when he died: the army report gave the date of his death as 2nd June 1915, although it seems likely that he had passed some weeks before.

Sarah and the family were possibly unable to afford to have George’s body taken back to Staffordshire for burial. Instead, he was laid to rest in the Twerton Cemetery in Bath, with Sarah and two of his brothers, Leonard and William, in attendance. Another member of his battalion, “deceased’s chum” [Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 5th June 1915] Private Fred Cotton, was also at the funeral, and sent his own wreath – from “his old pal Fred” [Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 5th June 1915].

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