George Allen Breach

A Civilian, George died on 27th of August 1940 aged 44. 

George was born at Lowestoft on 6 November 1895, a son of George and Louisa Breach. He was baptised at Saint Margaret’s Church on 22 December 1895, and his family lived at 22 Clapham Road. In 1901 his family lived at Hastings House, Whapload Road, and this was still their home in 1911. By 1917 the family home was at Hollinghurst, High Street.

During World War One George volunteered to join the Army. He served with the Suffolk Regiment, service number 43151. He was posted to France on 23 June 1916 to join the 7th Battalion and he was promoted to Corporal. 
George passed his selection for officer training and was posted to England on 16 March 1917. 

On 22 March 1917 George married Olive Honor S. James at Saint Margaret’s Church. George then joined an officer cadet battalion and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) on 26 September 1917. He arrived in France on 8 January 1918 to join the 1/7th (Robin Hood) Battalion and he served with B Company.   

By 20 March 1918 the 7th Battalion were in the Noreuil Sector. On 21 March the enemy put down a heavy barrage on their front-line positions. The barrage lasted several hours and cut all battalion communications lines, and many men were wounded. By 10 a.m. the enemy had turned the flanks either side of the battalion and were able to surround the battalion’s position. George was taken prisoner. The battalion recorded twenty-three officers and 614 men ‘missing’ on 21 March. 

George was held at Karlsruhe, Germany, and was repatriated on 30 November 1918 and was demobilised on 29 January 1919. For a time in 1919 it seems that he, and Olive, lived at The Turnpike, Blofield. In 1921 they lived at 5 Royal Avenue and George was a fishing boat owner, being a partner in Hutchings & Breach, boat owners.
In 1939 George and Olive lived at 181 High Street. The 1939 register describes George as a ‘fish salesman now working as a net rigger.’ Later Olive lived at 18 Ipswich Road.

On 21 August 1940 German aircraft dropped twelve high explosive bombs in the vicinity of Harvey, Wilson and Osborne Shipwrights and Jewson’s Timber Yard at Horn Hill. In that raid six people were killed. George, who was at Saint John’s Road, and was one of seven people injured during the raid. He died from his injuries, at Lowestoft and North Suffolk Hospital, on 27 August.