| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
George Roberts was born in Beverley the 12 Jan 1897 and baptised at Beverley Minster a month later, the son of Samuel Hazel Roberts and Priscilla (nee Stone) of Long Riston. They married in Long Riston 1896, and lived at 53 Flemingate, Beverley. George worked as a grocer’s errand boy before joining up.
George attested for military service on 23 Dec 1914 in Hull, declaring his age to be 19 instead of 17. He joined the 3rd Northumbrian Field Ambulance that was raised in Hull. He was a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps but wasn’t called up for service until the summer of 1916, giving his consent as a territorial to serve abroad. On 10 Sep 1916 he left the UK on a 10 day voyage to Greece to become part of the British Salonika Force. George undertook “general RAMC duties” whilst there. He was praised in reports as being, "quiet, steady and reliable", "reliable and intelligent" as well as being a man of "total sobriety". The fighting in the region ended in the autumn of 1918 with a Bulgarian defeat. George returned home in early 1919 with malaria, but his records do not indicate whether he was hospitalised. He finally left the army in May 1919. He was awarded the War and Victory Medals.
On returning to Beverley George secured employment in 1919 at the East Riding Asylum, Broadgates, Walkington as a mental nurse. Between 1920-23 he studied for the Cert. M.P.A., and received professional recognition in 1924. He stayed at the hospital for the rest of his working life. On 24 Jan 1925, at Beverley Minster, he married Eva Oxtoby, Eva was employed at the asylum as a laundrymaid and her father was a stores’ porter. The couple had one child, Patricia, born 1928. They lived on site in The Cottages, Walkington Road. George died in 1973. Eva died in 1968.
Includes information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |