| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
George was born in Beverley in 1894, the eldest child of Charles William Nelson, born in Boston, Lincolnshire, in 1850 and his wife Martha Ann, born in Northampton in 1873. His father worked at the Beverley shipyard, as a ship riveter and by 1911 as a boiler maker. George was brought up on Brougham Row, Flemingate, at 6 West Terrace and then at 26 Beckside which became the family home. George became a farm labourer, and in 1911 was working and residing at the farm of William Wastling in Beverley Parks. George was unmarried.
George served in the Territorials before the war, attending the annual camp for training. He served as a private in the 5th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment, the Green Howards, nicknamed the “Beverley Terriers”. At the outbreak of war George agreed to serve abroad and on the 15 Apr 1915 he arrived in France with the 5th, part of 150th Brigade and 50th Division. They immediately went into battle in Belgium at St Julien, nears Ypres and were involved in further actions in the vicinity in 1915. In 1916 the 5th was sent south to the Somme in France. It was on 17 Sep 1916 that the 5th took part in the Battle of Flers/Courcelette, near Martinpuich. The 5th experienced many casualties, including George who was posted as “presumed dead”. His body was not recovered, and he is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial on the Somme. He was awarded the 1915 Star and the War and Victory Medals.
George is commemorated on the Beckside Street Shrine and the Hengate Memorial.
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