George Douglas Essex – Cheshire Regiment

George was born in Ambala, India, on 29 February 1896 to George and Frances (nee Tearle). His father George - a Sergeant Major in the 18th Hussars - drowned a year later. His mother then died only four months after that whilst the family were awaiting a ship to take them back to England. George Douglas and his elder sister Dorothy were subsequently brought up by their uncle and aunt, Edward and Ellen Essex in Wildboarclough where Edward was the schoolmaster living in the School House. By 1913 the family had moved to Longdale House in Wincle.

George Essex & family in India - George is the baby bottom left

George was a printer’s clerk by trade and at the time of his enlistment as private no. 2285 in the 1/7th Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment on 14th September 1914, he was working at Hovis Bread and Flour Mill in Macclesfield. His initial posting abroad was to Egypt in July 1915 from where he saw action in Gallipoli and Palestine and luckily survived. He obviously impressed his officers for he was made Lance Corporal in August but then at his own request he reverted to being a private in January 1916 – just after the disastrous campaign in Gallipoli. Nevertheless he accepted promotion again in October that year and then to Acting Corporal in March 1918 and to full Corporal in mid-June when the regiment was sent to France. But after only six weeks he was wounded in the face and shoulder by shrapnel, losing two teeth, and repatriated to England to recover, spending time in Devonport then Falmouth Hospitals.  He was discharged to duty on the 3rd October and on 13th October he was posted to a Reserve unit. He did not return to France and was finally discharged on 16th April 1919 by which time he had reached the rank of sergeant. He was awarded the Victory Medal, the British Medal, the 1914-15 Star and the Croix de Guerre. (This last award may simply have been for long and dedicated service during the war. There is no indication in the regimental war diary of any significant action by him. Unfortunately very few citations have survived and George’s is not among them.)

At the end of 1918 he had married May Elkin and they lived in Macclesfield until he died in 1938, aged only 42. They had one daughter.

George’s cousins Reginald and Jack also appear on the Wincle Memorial.

Credits
Richard Nichols

George Essex’s award of the Croix de Guerre in the London Gazette of 22 Nov 1918