Pte 21937 George Frederick Wraight

• Age: 21
• From: Faversham, Kent
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

George Frederick Wraight was born in 1895 at Faversham, Kent and was baptised on the 31st March 1895 at St Mary of Charity Church, Faversham. He was the youngest child and only son of Frederick George Wraight and his wife Emma (nee Hodge). His parents married in 1877 and had five children (their firstborn, a daughter, was stillborn).  George had older sisters Lizzie, Nellie, Jennie, and Edith. 

For many years his father was employed in the gunpowder works in Faversham. The first gunpowder plant in the UK was established in the town in the 16th century, and Faversham became a world centre of the explosives industry. It is said that Guy Fawkes obtained his gunpowder from Faversham (although this cannot be verified). The gunpowder produced in Faversham played a key part in the blasting of routes for canals and railways during the industrial revolution.  The town’s gunpowder factories closed in the 1930s and production was moved to Scotland, the Faversham site in the southeast being vulnerable to attack. 

At the time of the 1901 census the family is living at 14 Cambridge Road, Faversham, with three children at home. Jennie is 12, Edith 10, and George 6. His father, aged 48, is employed in the gunpowder works, mother Emma is 44 years of age. His two elder sisters are working away from home; Lizzie, 22, is a draper’s assistant in Canterbury, and Nellie, 21, is a nursemaid in Clapham, London.

George attended the district school and won a scholarship to Faversham Grammar School.

The 1911 Census shows the family are still living at 14 Cambridge Road, Faversham. His father, Frederick George, is aged 58, born 1852 in Faversham, his occupation is recorded as a carpenter in a gunpowder works, whilst his mother, Emma, is aged 54, born 1857 in Faversham, she has no occupation recorded. They have been married for thirty three years and have had five children, those living at home and listed on the Census are; Jennie aged 22, born 1889 occupation milliner, Edith aged 20, born 1890 is a shop assistant and George Frederick aged 16, born 1895 is at school. The two children not at home are; Lizzie, 33, is a housekeeper for her widowed uncle George Hodge in London Road, Faversham.  Nellie, 31, is a housekeeper for another widowed uncle, Alfred Hodge, in Hackney, London.

Before enlisting, George was a member of staff of the Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers, Ltd., of Lloyd’s Avenue, London E.C.3.

It is not known when or why George travelled to Liverpool from Kent, but he enlisted in Knowsley, near Liverpool, on 17th November 1914 joining the 17^th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 21937. He gave his age as nineteen years and ten months and his occupation as a clerk. He was described as being five feet five and half inches tall with a 33” chest and gave his next of kin as his father Frederick George Wraight, 14 Cambridge Road, Faversham.  .

He was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory, he trained there and also at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 17th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

His service papers show: 
 
24.8.15 At Belton Park parading for guard with dirty brasses and idle mounting guard - confined to barracks for two days.

07.11.15: Embarked for France with his battalion.

14.4.16: Reported sick to 55 Field Ambulance. Admitted to  Highland Casualty Clearing Station (51st) with German measles.

17.4.16: Isolation Hospital at Le Havre.

02.5.16: Ex-hospital to 30 I.B.Depot, Etaples. 

12.5.16: Rejoined battalion from 30 I.B.D. 

He was killed in action on the 30^th July 1916, aged 21, at the village of Guillemont, France, during the Somme Offensive.

17th Battalion Diary 30th July 1916

The Battalion was in support to 19 & 20 Battalions K.L.R. 2 Coys. behind 19th & 2 Coys. behind 20th. Very thick mist. The attack was pushed home to the objective in places but in the main was held up by machine gun fire from hidden machine guns.

Fighting continued all day swaying backwards and forwards until by 6pm about 300 yards in depth had been gained & consolidated all along our front.

Casualties in the 17th Battalion were 15 Officers and 281 Other Ranks

Further details are reported in more detailed by Everard Wyrall in his book The History of the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) 1914-1919 Volume II 1916-1917

The 17th King’s had advanced (two companies each behind the 19th and 20th Battalions) in small columns. They too suffered heavily from machine-gun fire and were quickly absorbed into the waves that preceded them. They also shared the gains and losses of that terrible day.

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55th Division during the early hours of the 31st July. 

The events of 30th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone.   

George's body was not recovered from the battlefield or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.” 

News of a War Memorial in George's memory was reported in the Faversham News on Saturday 25 August 1917 

WAR MEMORIAL.  

On Sunday last at Faversham Parish Church the Vicar, Rev. Canon Crosse, in the presence of members of the family, dedicated a memorial to another of Faversham's brave sons, namely Private George Frederick Wraight, Liverpool Regiment, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Wraight of 14, Cambridge Road, who was killed in France a little more than a year ago. In his school days Private Wraight gained a scholarship from the District Schools to the Grammar School and his memorial therefore finds a fitting place over the seats which are set apart in the church for the boys of the Grammar School. The inscription on the memorial is as follows: "In loving memory of George Frederick Wraight, the King's Liverpool Regiment, who fell gloriously in action at Guillemont, France, on July 30th, 1916, aged 21 years. All honour give to those, who, nobly striving, nobly fell that we might live." The memorial consists of a handsome brass tablet on marble, and the inscription is surmounted by the armourial bearings of the Earl of Derby, Secretary of State for War, who having raised and commanded, in the early days of the war, the Battalion in which the deceased served, permitted it to use his as the Battalion crest. 

His Army pay and a War Gratuity of £7-10s went to his father, who was awarded a pension of  5/- a week from June 1919.  

George earned his three medals, which his father signed for.

His father died in 1935, aged 83 and his death was reported in the Faversham News on Saturday 04 January 1936: 

Obituary.— Mr. Frederick G. Wraight (for 59 years at the Gunpowder Works), aged 83 years. 

In 1939 his mother, 82, is still living at 14 Cambridge Road with daughter Lizzie, 61.

His mother lived through the Second World War and died on the 08th April 1948 at the age of 91. Her death was reported in the  Faversham News on Friday 16 April 1948: 

WRAIGHT —On April 8th, 1948, at 14 Cambridge Road, Faversham, Emma, widow of the late Frederick George Wraight. 

George is commemorated on the following Memorials:

Faversham Memorial

Faversham Memorial Garden

Wreight's School and Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School

St. Mary of Charity Chapel, Faversham. 

In August 1917 an individual brass plate (on marble, the inscription surrounded by the crest of Lord Derby) was erected inside the church - 

          In Loving Memory of
GEORGE FREDERICK WRAIGHT
  The King's Liverpool Regiment
     who fell gloriously in action
          at Guillemont, France
            on July 30th 1916
               aged 21 years
      All Honour give to those,
  who Nobly Striving, Nobly Fell,
          that we might Live     

We currently have no further information on George Frederick Wraight, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.