In 1895 we found George, at just 14 years old on the SS ‘Harlech Castle’ sailing from Falmouth bound for Cape Town, South Africa. Although George has no occupation given on the ship’s register, most of the other men on board are miners, heading for the gold mines in South Africa and Rhodesia. At this time these areas would have been very much like the Wild West and we can only imagine how a 14 year old from Cleator coped with this life. A very brave young man. When war broke out in Europe and an appeal was made for volunteers, George was one of the first to respond. He was then at Gwanda mines, Rhodesia, and with several others, equipped themselves at their own expense and paid their passage to England. We find George and his comrades on the Steamship ‘Kildonan Castle’ which George boarded in Cape Town and docked in Plymouth mid October 1914. George joined up on 20 December 1914 and was attached to the King’s Royal Rifle Corps as a Private and received training. In an article in the Barrow News of 18 November 1916 we read that George is suffering from malaria fever and is in hospital in Malta. Malta was where soldiers were sent from Gallipoli and Salonika having been wounded or suffering from diseases such as malaria. From this we have assumed that George was with the 4th battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps who served in Salonika from November 1915. The battalion also saw action in France at the 2nd battle of Ypres. George does not seem to have recovered sufficiently to return to active service while in Malta and in December 1916 was sent home on a hospital ship to England. After his marriage to Elanor Smith in Aug 1917 George was discharged from the army and was in a hospital near Leeds for some time. On the 11 January 1918 George died at the home of his mother-in-law Mrs Margaret Smith who was living at 13 Dalton Road (and lived there until her death in 1932). The cause of George’s death was given as rheumatic fever. George was given a military funeral.