George Victor Jim Elmes was born in the autumn of 1897 in the village of Derry Hill, between Calne and Chippenham in Wiltshire. One of six children, his parents were Nelson and Hannah Elmes. Nelson was a shepherd, and when George completed his schooling, he found work as a labourer on the same farm. Money must have been tight, and the 1901 and 1911 census returns both show that the family had taken in boarders for a little extra.

There is little further documentation about George’s life. He would enlist in the Machine Gun Corps at some point after June 1917, and would undertake his training in Dorset.

The death took place at the Trowbridge Red Cross Hospital on Wednesday of Gunner George Elmes, Machine Gun Corps. Gunner Elmes, whose home is at Chippenham, was travelling thence from Bovington Cap on Monday when he was found to be seriously ill at Trowbridge. Dr Bond conveyed him to the hospital in his motor car, but he got rapidly worse and died on Wednesday. He was going to Chippenham to visit his mother, who is seriously ill.

[Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser: Saturday 6th January 1917]

George Victor Jim Elmes died on 3rd January 1917: he was just 19 years of age. Hannah passed away soon after her son: she was 55 years old.

With two funerals to pay for, money must have been incredibly tight for Nelson and the rest of the family. While Hannah was buried locally, the body of George Elmes was laid to rest in Trowbridge Cemetery, not far from the hospital to which he had been taken when he fell ill.

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