The last Stathern resident to be killed in WW1 was Lance Corporal George Hall. He was born in Stathern in 1898. He had two older siblings and three younger ones. His father James Hall was born in Stathern and was a railway platelayer, and his mother was from Stamford. George and his 5 siblings were all baptized at St Guthlac’s church.

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We don’t know much about George’s early life. When the war began George would have been 16. We know that George enlisted at Grantham, but we don’t know when. His elder sister Elizabeth had married William Helsdon in 1914 and William had been tragically killed in action one year later, leaving a heavily pregnant Elizabeth. Perhaps this prompted George to enlist in 1917. He joined or was allocated to the 6th battalion of the Durham Light Infantry. We know that in early September 1918 he had been in France for nearly 11 months and he had been promoted to Lance Corporal and transferred to the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment. A photograph of him shows that he was a trained marksman, and at some stage he had been in hospital with ‘trench foot’. Official War Diary records show that on the day of his death the enemy was fighting hard and bombing attacks continued throughout the night, but George’s regiment advanced about 300 yards. It was part of the offensive that began to cripple the opposition which brought the war to an end.

 

Sometime during the advance on 21st September George was killed by a sniper as he sheltered by the roadside. He was aged just 20 and unmarried. His body was recovered, and a temporary cross placed where he fell – we have a photograph of this. He was buried in the Epehy Wood Farm Cemetery, about 100 miles from Calais. His temporary grave marker cross was brought back to Stathern Church where it is fixed on the south aisle wall - a direct link between us and him. George’s death was reported in the local newspapers and a memorial service was held in Stathern church.

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George is the Great Uncle of Rosemary Jarman from Colston Bassett. Another member of the family living in Suffolk, David Sarson, has his medals, his ring, and a photograph of him in uniform.

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Roger Hawkins, November 2018