ARMISHAW, GEORGE DANIEL


Source

CWGC

SDGW

Uttoxeter Advertiser

Other

Parents

Alfred and Sarah Ann Armishaw, of Seven Acres, Uttoxeter

Yes



5

Where born

Birth registered in Stafford




7

When born

October to December 1896




7

Address

Seven Acres, Uttoxeter (parents)

Yes


3b

5

Northwood, Staffordshire (self)


Yes


5

Spouse






Children






Employment Before Joining up

Worked at the Leighton Ironworks




10a

Where Enlisted

Hanley, Staffordshire


Yes


5

Regiment

North Staffordshire (Prince of Wales’s)

Yes

Yes

3a 3b

5 8

Unit

5th Bn (WRONG)

Yes




1st/6th Bn.

Yes



5

6th Bn, “A” Company




2

Rank

Private

Yes

Yes

3a 3b

5 8 10a

Service Number

242345

Yes

Yes


5

Date of Death

22nd Dec 1918

Yes

Yes


5

Age at time of death

22

Yes




Where Killed or died

England - Hull



8



How he died

Illness - pneumonia



8

1

Location of Grave or Memorial

Uttoxeter Cemetery - Grave New. I.1937

Yes



9

Awards

British War Medal – Roll F/104 B21 Page 2649




8

Victory Medal – Roll F/104 B21 Page 2649




8

The town War Memorials have his second initial as B, which is wrong. The name on the CWGC records is correct because he is recorded as George Daniel on his birth certificate.

George was born in the last quarter of 1896, the youngest son of Alfred and Sarah Ann Armishaw, of Seven Acres, Uttoxeter.

In civilian life he worked at the Leighton Ironworks in Uttoxeter.

He enlisted at Hanley, Staffordshire into the 1st/6th Battalion of the North Staffordshire Regiment in November 1915 and served as a Private. He was accepted on his sixth attempt at enlistment.

His number was initially number 5558, but at some stage this changed to 242345.

In his obituary in the Lichfield Mercury George was reported to have seen ‘a good deal of fighting in France’ and had been wounded twice.

In the middle of July 1917 the Uttoxeter Advertiser reported the fact that he was missing.

In the middle of September 1917 news came in that he was now a prisoner of war at Limburg in Germany. He had been missing since 25th May and had been wounded in the arm and hand.

This is echoed by the North Staffordshire Regiment History, which records that he was ‘Missing, believed POW’ on 25th May 1917.

George was a prisoner of war in Germany for a year and seven months and was released after the Armistice. He travelled back to England, landing at Hull and was taken from there to the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) hospital with influenza. He died there on 22nd December 1918 of bronchial pneumonia and it seems likely that he fell victim to the Spanish Influenza epidemic.

On the 25th of December 1918, just over a month after the end of the war, the Uttoxeter Advertiser reported that he had arrived back in England. Unfortunately, by the time this edition of the newspaper went to press, George had already died.



George was buried in Grave New. I.1937 in Uttoxeter’s Town Cemetery. A large number of military men were present, the cortege being followed by 130 soldiers, including men on leave, discharged soldiers and returned prisoners of war. A party of about twenty-five men also attended from the Machine Gun Corps.

Three volleys were fired over his grave and the “Last Post” was sounded.

Wreaths included those from the Comrades of the Great War and the local Prisoners of War Committee. George was 22 years old and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal

The dedication at the base says “The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord”.