WORLD WAR I
Bingham War Memorial - George Braithwaite
Service Record
| 21981 [ND] 28378 [CR] |
Corporal George William Braithwaite,MM | Formerly Notts and Derby Regt. 11th Battalion, The Cheshire regiment |
Born Bingham 1894 |
| Killed in action 15/03/1918, when the 11th Battalion was involved in the
battle of St Quentin, the first battle of Bapaume. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bapaume |
Buried in Favreuil British Cemetery. | Grave reference II. E. 23 |
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| Ancestry.com SDiGW |
Records show that before enrolling in the Cheshire Regiment he served in the Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment) with service number 21981. | ||
| History of Cheshire Regiment By A Crookenden, Colonel of the Regiment |
War diaries for the specific period just prior to the main St Quentin offensive are “very poor indeed” because of the disorganization of the British retreat. The entry for 13/3/18 reads “The battalion stood to at 5.00 a.m. but no attack materialized. The battalion remained at this camp [Berkeley camp, Bihucourt] until the morning of the 21st and the usual training was carried out”. There is no entry for 14th to 20th. The entry for 13th reads: “The Battalion stood to at 5.00am but no attack [expected in a note of 12th] materialized. The Battalion remained at this camp until the morning of the 21st and the usual training was carried out”. It seems unlikely that that George was killed during this period. From 21st March, the beginning of the St Quentin offensive, the diaries are reported in detail in the book cited here and we have downloaded them from the National Archives. Braithwaite’s award of the Military Medal is recorded in the book but no citation given. | ||
| Military Medal | Page 7766 of the London Gazette, issue 3029, dated 27/07/1917, announced the conferment of the Military Medal on Lance Corporal G W Braithwaite of the Cheshire Regiment. | ||
| Register of Effects | On 12th July 1918 his back pay of £7.7.9d was paid to “Si Leg” Emily Gale | On 26th November 1919 a war gratuity was paid to his “S Leg” Mrs Emily Gale | |
Listed on SDiGW, Ancestry. No other military records on ancestry except medal forms (not MM though)
Ancestry notes MM and previous service but has no records of this.
Family history etc
| 28378 | Corporal George William Braithwaite,MM | 11th Battalion, The Cheshire regiment | Born Bingham 1894 |
| 1894 | born, Bingham, 05/09/1894 | ||
| Census 1891 | Elizabeth (grandmother) already widowed Living in Long Acre Row with Her children: (all born in Barkestone) Hannah, b 1876 [mother of George] Mary, b 1877 Joseph, b 1880 Arthur,b 1882 |
No occupation shown
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| Census 1901 | Living in Needham Street, Bingham with Grandmother: Elizabeth Braithwaite,
widow, b 1848, Barkestone Elizabeth’s family not listed in census |
beader for a lace warehouse |
Record shows a Hannah Braithwaite of right age born in Bingham as a servant at a hotel in Kirkgate, Newark. |
| Census 1911 | Living at 5 Pearson Street, Netherfield as boarder with: Thomas Durrance age 65, b Barkestone |
Office Boy, Great Northern Railway Retired Policeman |
In 1901 Durrance was a retired policeman in Grantham Road, Bingham. It is likely the two families knew each other. |
| Baptism Register | Mother was Hannah Braithwaite with no father shown but not noted as illegitimate, which he seems to have been! |