George Robert Reynolds

A Private with the 11th Battalion, George died on 13th of September 1917 at the age of 29. 

George was born at Aldeby, Norfolk, on 10 September 1887, a son of Frederick and Harriet Reynolds. He was baptised at Aldeby on 9 October 1887. In 1891 his family lived at The Street, Aldeby. By 1901 they were living at 85 Saint Margaret’s Road, Lowestoft, and this was still the family home in 1911. 

On 7 May 1911 George married Catherine Mary Clarke at Saint Margaret’s Church, Lowestoft. George was a carter living at 85 Saint Margaret’s Road, and Catherine lived at 168 Clapham Road. By 1917 Catherine was living at 32 Till Road. 

George volunteered and enlisted in the Army at Lowestoft. He joined the Suffolk Regiment. Initially he served with the 1/6th (Cyclist) Battalion (service number not known), then he was posted to the 7th Battalion, in France, with service number 43207, and subsequently he was posted to the 11th Battalion.

On 11 September 1917 the 11th Battalion took over positions in trenches near Roisel. The battalion war diary has the following detail for 12 to 15 September:

Work consisted for the most part in repairing Farm Trench, captured the day before and badly knocked about. The enemy was very active with pineapples (hand grenades) and trench mortars hindering progress. He also shelled lines of approach continuously making carrying a difficult task.  

The following account, giving details of what happened to George, appeared in the Lowestoft Journal, 27 October 1917, page 3:

PRIVATE GEORGE REYNOLDS
Private George Reynolds, 11th Suffolks, formerly of the 1/6th Suffolk Cyclists, son of Mr. and Mrs. F. Reynolds, 85, Saint Margaret’s Road, has been killed in action in France. His parents (to whom much sympathy has been extended) have received the following letter from his Commanding Officer, Captain A. J. Thirtle, of Lowestoft: - “I feel that I must send you my sympathy for the loss of your son on September 13th. When I joined this Battalion in August his Platoon officer told me that Private Reynolds was one of his best and most reliable men, who belonged to Lowestoft, and would like to see me, so he was the first Lowestoft man I spoke to. He was very well and cheery, having just come safely through a successful fight on August 26th. I soon found that he was spoken well of by both officers and men. In fact, wherever the boys from the old town find themselves they always earn a good name. On the night he was killed I was in the same line of trenches, and know that he, with his four comrades, was killed instantaneously by the same shell, so he did not suffer a moment’s pain. Your son was on sentry duty, and actually died at his post. He was buried with his comrades in a British cemetery behind the front line, the service being conducted by the chaplain. Such men are badly missed and hard to replace, both in the Army and at home.”

George and his colleagues that were killed in 13 September: Lance Corporal Cornwall and Privates Wright, Butcher and Chamberlain, are buried in adjacent graves at Jeancourt Communal Cemetery Extension.