George James Everett was born in Fordington, Dorset, on 3rd July 1898. The fifth of six children, his parents were Frank and Jane Everett. Frank was a shepherd, and farm work was a trade into which at least two of George’s older siblings went.
George was only sixteen at the outbreak of the First World War, and so had to bide his time before he could serve his country. This he did, however, enlisting in the Hampshire Regiment on 24th July 1916. Assigned to the 52nd (Graduated) Battalion, he was sent to Canterbury, Kent for his training.
Private Everett’s time in the army was not to be as much of an adventure and he might have hoped. He spent his time on home soil, and, by the end of 1917, his health wasn’t standing up to the rigours of army life. George had contracted tuberculosis, and the contagious health condition led to his discharge from the military service on 5th December.
At this point, George’s trail goes cold. He returned to home to recuperate, and back at home, he fell in love. Amelia Aylen had been born in Beckenham, Kent, and it seems that she may have moved to Dorset to live with her brother, , Thomas, who had found farm work there. George and Amelia married in Blandford Forum on 3rd March 1919, and had a son, George Jr, that September.
George’s health would ultimately get the better of him. He passed away from tuberculosis and exhaustion on 8th July 1920: he had turned 22 years old just a few days before.
The body of George James Everett was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Peter’s Church in the village of Pimperne, to the north of Blandford.
As George and Amelia had been married after his discharge from the army, she was not eligible for his war pension. The 1921 census found her working as a servant for a retired army major in Wiltshire, while George Jr was being raised by her brother’s family.
Death and Service 