Pte 51691 George Edwin Houghton

George Edwin Houghton was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, in 1886, the eldest son of George Houghton and his wife Margaret (née Bradbury), who married in Chester in 1885.  At the time of their marriage his father was 30, occupation mariner, living at 79 Craven Street, Birkenhead, and his mother was 25.  His mother was born in Manchester, but his father’s birthplace is not known, as he has not been identified on any census. 

 

George was the eldest of six children, two of whom died in infancy. He had younger siblings William (died), Alfred Robertson, John William Brown, Florence Mary, and Frederick (died).

 

He was baptised in St. Mary’s, Birkenhead, on 29th August 1886.

 

In 1891 His mother with three sons is living at 112 Cathcart Street, Birkenhead. His father is away at sea, George is 4.

 

Their last child’s baptism record in 1894 shows that they lived at 19 Orchard Road, Tranmere.  That year his father left for a voyage of 6+ years as First Mate on the Aladdin, a three masted iron sailing vessel, but was lost at sea early in 1901. A Board of Trade enquiry was held in Liverpool in November 1901:  

 

 

The census of 1901 finds his widowed mother, 40, with four children living at 84 Whitford Road, Birkenhead.  George is 14, employed as a ship broker’s clerk.

 

By 1911 they have moved to 16 Mellow Road, Birkenhead (their previous address 84 Whitford Road was initially filled in, then crossed out, perhaps indicating that the family had moved very recently).  His mother is 51, George is 24, a clerk in a coal depot, Alfred, 22, is a ship steward, John, 20, is a messenger with the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, and Florence, 19, has no occupation.  Living with them is a niece, Florence Robertson. 

 

SDGW shows that George was living across the water in Bootle when he enlisted in Liverpool, as Private 51691, joining the 19th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment. The amount of the War Gratuity suggests that he served over three years, enlisting in about June 1915.

 

At some point George was transferred to the 8th Bn K.L.R. (Liverpool Irish).

 

He was declared Missing on 11th September 1918.

George’s name appeared in the list of Wounded published six weeks later on 22nd October 1918 in the Weekly Casualty List.   

His death was later presumed, for official purposes, as having occurred on 11th September 1918.  His body was never recovered or identified and he is commemorated on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial.

The Vis en Artois Memorial bears the names of over 9,000 men who fell in the period from 8 August 1918 to the date of the Armistice in the Advance to Victory in Picardy and Artois, between the Somme and Loos, and who have no known grave.

The memorial was designed by J.R. Truelove, with sculpture by Ernest Gillick. It was unveiled by the Rt. Hon. Thomas Shaw on 4 August 1930. 

A War Gratuity of £16-10s and his Army effects were shared by his mother Margaret, and siblings Alfred, John and Florence.

 

The pension card, giving his mother’s address as 47 Westbourne Road, West Kirby, shows that she was awarded a pension, amount unknown.

 

His brother John enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery in November 1915, and shipped overseas with the B.E.F. a year later.  He returned home in March 1919 and was demobbed in September 1919.

 

His brother Alfred joined the K.L.R. in December 1915, served in the U.K. and was posted to France with the Royal Engineers in May 1919.  He was demobbed in December 1919 with a partial disability (heart disease) attributable to military service. 

 

His mother died in 1931 aged 72.

 

George is commemorated on the following memorials -

Men of Birkenhead Cenotaph

Bootle Civic Memorial

Bootle’s Fallen

 

And on the family grave in Grange Cemetery, West Kirby:

 

 

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