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George Dickins of Leconfield was 22 when he died of wounds 2 Jul 1916, the second day of the Battle of the Somme. He is buried at the Ribemont Communal Cemetery Extension, France. George enlisted 9 Dec 1915 in Sheffield and joined the 11th Reserve Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment, later moving to the 9th Service Battalion. After training in Pontefract, he was promoted to Lance-Corporal and arrived in France at the end of May 1916. On the front line on 22 Jun, he took part in the actions to capture the town of Albert. His role was that of a "bomber", using the new Mills Bomb, the first fragmentation grenade to be used in the British Army. He was awarded the War and Victory Medals.
George was born in Leconfield Nov 1893 and baptised at St Catherine's Church in Jun 1894. His father John Robert Dickins born Shiptonthorpe, was a farm labourer and shepherd, his mother Anne Maria Dickins nee Witty. He was the oldest of six children. In 1911 he was employed as a draper's assistant. When he enlisted he was living in the Moorhead district of Sheffield, employed in the drapery trade. After the war his family continued to live in Leconfield his mother died in 1924 and his father in 1943. His brothers Charles and Edwin continued in the farming industry. His brother James initially worked as a farm labourer at Arram but then became a police constable living at the Police House in Beverley with his wife Edith. Only his sister Alice left the area, living in the Midlands until her death in Shropshire in 1992.
George is remembered on a memorial at St Catherine's Church in Leconfield.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |