The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website confirms that George Whalley was the: “son of Harriet Ann Whalley, of 3, Brunswick St., Pilsley, Chesterfield, Derbyshire”. George’s parents were William Whalley (born Cracoe on the Yorkshire Moors 1836) and Harriett Ann nee Naylor (born Heage, Derbyshire 1852). They wed at the church of St John the Baptist, Ault Hucknall, near Chesterfield, Derbyshire in 1879. George was born in Pilsley near Chesterfield, Derbyshire circa 1891.
The 1911 census found the 19-year-old George living with his parents at 3 Brunswick Street, Pilsley. He was employed as a Coal Miner Dataller*. His father, William had been a Coal Hewer, but now aged 75, was a pensioner. [*“a man ….. paid on a day by day basis for work done as required” (Wikipedia)].
There appears to be no record in the publication ‘Soldiers Died In The Great War 1914-1919’ for George Whalley. His medal card confirms he received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. It does not include the 1914 or the 1914-15 Star. That indicates that George did not enter a theatre of war until after 31 December 1915.
The following appeared in the ‘Derbyshire Times’ of 18 March 1916: “PILSLEY MAN WOUNDED” “Private George Whalley, 5th Trench Mortar Battery, formally of the Royal Garrison Artillery, whose home is at Pilsley, has been wounded in the chest. His sergeant intimated that the wound was not serious, and writing from Rouen, where he is in hospital, on March 6th, Private Whalley reports favourable progress. Private Whalley has two brothers in the Army, Ernest being abroad with the 1st-6th Sherwood Foresters, and Ralph has been in training over a year with the 2nd-6th Sherwood Foresters.”
The CWGC confirms that George Whalley died, aged 27, on 4 April 1918, and that his remains are interred in the Adelaide Cemetery, Villers-Bretonneux; Villers-Bretonneux being a a town 16 kilometres east of Amiens, in the Somme Region of France.
George is also commemorated on Pilsley’s war memorial.
(George Whalley’s older brother served as 140623 Private Ralph Whalley of the 8th Company Machine Gun Corps (Infantry). Ralph also died for his country).
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