| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Lance Corporal George Neill, aged 18, of the 15th Battalion of the (Prince of Wales’s Own) West Yorkshire Regiment, 15th Battalion, (the 1st Leeds), the Leeds Pals, was taken prisoner in unknown circumstances on 12 Apr 1918 at Steenwerck, to the east of Armentieres. Nominally he was allocated to Gardelangen POW camp in central Germany but in reality he was kept behind German lines in the vicinity of Lille and was employed on labouring duties such as digging trenches and making roads. According to an account published in the Beverley Guardian 30 Nov 1918 he was “fairly well fed but rations were limited and lacked variety and as a result suffered from diarrhoea and dysentery.” On 13 Nov 1918, two days after the Armistice, the prisoners were deserted by their German guards and they then made their way to British lines on foot, covering up to 28 miles in a day and a half. They were very complimentary of the help given to them by French and Belgian civilians. George got home on 23 Nov 1918 with fellow local captives, John B Gray and William Dowson: all three were welcomed on arrival at Beverley Railway Station by the Mayor, Mr Harry Wray. George received the War and Victory Medals.
George was born in Hornsea the 18 Apr 1899, the son of John Neill a joiner and carpenter who later worked at the Beverley shipyard; George’s mother Ann (nee Alvin) was born in Cottingham in 1873. She died in 1902 and George and sister, Frances, born in 1896, went to live at 8 Flemingate with their grandparents, Thomas Neill born in Ireland a coach fitter in Beverley and his wife, Elizabeth. Before enlistment George worked as a clerk in the East Riding Insurance Committee offices, Beverley.
After the war George worked as a clerk for East Riding County Council at County Hall. On 30 Apr 1927 he married Beatrice Wilkinson, born in 1904, of Cherry Tree Lane. They had two children, John born 1928 and Eric born 1931. They lived at 23 Grovehill Road. George died the 12 Aug 1966, Beatrice died in 1982.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |