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1897 - 18/08/1916

Place of birth: Bromley, Kent
Last known address in Bromley: 43 Freelands Road

Military information

Regiment/Service: Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment
Battalion/Ship: 1st/5th Bn
Rank: Lance Corporal
Number: 240177

Family information

Parents: George Henry & Emma Cheel (stepmother)
Parents' occupation: Carpenter
Siblings: None

Census information

1901
Address: 43 Freelands Road
1911
Address: 43 Freelands Road
Occupation: Tinman's mate

Extra details

George was the only child of George and Fanny Cheel. His mother died when he was just three years old, his father married Emma Richardson soon after. George attended Wharton Road School before becoming a fitter's mate.

George enlisted in the Royal West Kents on 8th January 1913 stating his age as 17 when he was only 16. He was appointed to Lance Corporal on 6th October 1914. By 12th February 1915 George was in Jhansi, India where he was examined and recorded that he was 5ft 9ins tall and weighed 145lbs. On 14th August that year he embarked for Mesopotamia, arriving on the 26th. George joined his battalion in the field on 17th September as they were advancing on Baghdad. They took Kut-al-Amara on the way but after the Battle of Ctesiphon (just outside Baghdad) they had to retreat to Kut-al-Amara where George was wounded on 23rd December. The Turks surrounded Kut cutting it off. Reinforcements were unable to break through resulting in surrender on 29th April 1916 of a weakened , starving army.

Prisoners were marched to Asia Minor, many dying on the way. On 28th February 1918 the War Office unofficially reported that George died of dysentery at Yarbaschi in July 1916 as a prisoner of war, however CWGC have recorded his death as being on the 18th August.