| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information
George Norman Hart was born in Hull at the end of 1888. He was one of seven children born to Danvers Hart and his wife Elizabeth. Danvers was from the Whitby area and was a police constable. Nothing is known of George’s upbringing but he became a labourer at Hull docks. At Beverley Minster on 12 May 1909 he married Florence Kate Lee, born in 1888, the daughter of a Beckside carter. They lived at 16 Sparkmill Terrace, Flemingate. Initially the couple lived in Hull where their first three children were born: Robert in Nov 1910, George in 1912 and Charles in 1913. However, they then moved to Beverley and lived at 17 Sparkmill Terrace, off Flemingate. Catherine was born in Nov 1915 and Leslie in Apr 1918.
George enlisted in the army at the Central Recruiting Office in Hull on 16 Sep 1914. He joined the Hull Heavy Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery as a gunner, and in June 1915 qualified as a signaller. On 7 Feb 1916 they left for East Africa where British, Indian and South African troops were in action against German forces in their colony of Tanganyika. German “tip and run” tactics ensured it was a mobile war fought in unhospitable bush and jungle. George, like many British soldiers, caught malaria many times (nine in his case) and was evacuated to Cape Colony in South Africa. Medical reports there indicated that he also suffered from breathlessness and heart strain. George was sent back to Britain and arrived in May 1917. He was discharged from the army, described as being “no longer physically fit for war service” and given a pension. That he was not relegated to non-front line duties indicates the very poor state of his health. He was awarded a Silver Badge and the War and Victory Medals.
George returned to Beverley in poor health and died at home on 24 Sep 1918. He is buried in a war grave at St Martin’s Cemetery, Queensgate. He is commemorated on the Hengate War Memorial and on the East Riding Memorial in the Minster. His wife never remarried. His son, Leslie, became a policeman in the East Riding Constabulary so copying his grandfather, Danvers Hart.
Includes information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |