ALLFREY, George Alexander
(Service number 70923)
| First Rank | Private | Last Rank | Private |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 30 May 1893 | Place of Birth | Waimate, NZ |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 11 October 1917 | Age | 24 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Waimate | ||
| Occupation | Labourer | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | James Charles Allfrey (father), Mary Street, Waimate | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Expeditionary Force | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 36th Reinforcements C Company Canterbury Infantry Regt. | ||
| Date | 23 April 1918 | ||
| Transport | Willochra | ||
| Embarked From | Wellington, NZ | Destination | Suez, Egypt |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | Canterbury Infantry Regiment | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | Western Europe | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | British War Medal & Victory Medal | ||
Award Circumstances and Date
No information
Prisoner of War Information
| Date of Capture | |
|---|---|
| Where Captured and by Whom | |
| Actions Prior to Capture | |
| PoW Serial Number | |
| PoW Camps | |
| Days Interned | |
| Liberation Date |
Death
| Date | 23 October 1918 | Age | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Le Cateau, France | ||
| Cause | Killed in action | ||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Romeries Communal Cemetery Extension, Nord, France | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | On Memorial wall, Timaru; Waimate First World War Memorial | ||
Biographical Notes
George's last employer was as a labourer for Meredith & Co Waimate.
He was medically boarded in Timaru and described as weight 147 lbs, height 5 foot 8 1/2 inches, chest 34 inches, complexion fair, eyes blue and hair brown. He was wearing dentures and his feet were inclined to be flat but seemed to give no trouble. He had had previous service with the 2nd SC Regiment as a Territorial. He served in New Zealand from 12 November 1917 to 22 April 1918 and overseas 23 April 1918 until his death 23 October 1918. He arrived in Suez 31 May 1918 and embarked on the "Ormonde" 4 July 1918 for Southampton and left the United Kingdom for France on 30 September 1918.
Despite his previous military service Lillian Hall, Allfrey's first cousin twice removed, recounted that: "... he did not want to go to war, he was prised from his mother at Waimate train station and put on board the train, he said he would not be returning home."
George died of gunshot wounds on 23 Oct 1918 after less than one month in France (Cas List no 995/8). He was originally buried at Bon A Pierres in an isolated grave 2 3/4 miles SW of Le Quesnoy by Rev G.T. Robson and later reburied in Romeries Cemetery.
George's war medals, scroll and plaque were sent to his mother, Mrs J.C. Allfrey, Mary Street, Waimate.
Sources
Cenotaph (August 2013 & October 2014); Archives NZ; New Zealand Society of Genealogists Index Version 5: SCRoll web submission by L Hall, 9 May 2015
External Links
Related Documents
No documents available.
Researched and Written by
Carol Bell, SC branch NZSG & Timaru Herald, Ted Hansen
Currently Assigned to
Not assigned.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
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