George Montague Pearce was born on the Thursday 13th August 1885 in Paddington, Middlesex to single mother Alice Mary Pearce. Shortly after his birth, Alice met and married George William De Beger in 1888 at Chelsea and young George adopted his step-father’s surname. Just two years later the first of George’s five half-siblings, Mabel Elizabeth was born. She was followed by: Florence Eugenie, Albert Leslie, Frederick Gordon and finally Alice Victoria.

George started school in 1890 initially at St Clement’s National School, before moving to Oxford Gardens School on 24th August 1891, just two weeks after his sixth birthday. He left the school shortly afterwards when his step-father George, a Plumber by trade, moved the family sometime before 1894 to Bushey in Hertfordshire where the two youngest children were born.

By 1901 the family were living at 77 Villiers Road in Bushey and young George aged fifteen was working as a Mason’s Labourer. It was whilst working in the Watford area that he met his first wife Mabel Spires and they were married in the winter of 1907. George and Mabel moved to Walthamstow and had two daughters together, Mabel born in 1908 followed by Gladys in 1910. By this time George had changed jobs and was now working as a plumber, his step-father’s trade.

The young family were living back in Watford in 1911 at 29 High Street, Bushey Fields, the home of Albert and Elizabeth Spires, Mabel’s parents. It was here in the spring of 1913 that George and Mabel had their third daughter Alice, but tragedy followed this happy event. A year later on Saturday, 9th May 1914 Mabel suddenly died at home of a perforated ulcer at the age of 27, leaving George to bring up the three girls. They family was living at 75 School Lane in Bushey.

With the support of his in-laws, who took care of the children, George was able to continue working and this brought him to Leverstock Green. It was here that he met a local girl Minnie Woodwards who would become his second wife by the end of the year.

On the outbreak of war George enlisted at Watford in August and joined the Norfolk Regiment. He was posted to the 9th Battalion and sent to Shorncliffe Camp at Cheriton near Folkestone to undergo basic training and soon afterwards was promoted Lance Corporal. It was common in the early days of the war for new soldiers with abilities to attain this rank so that units had sufficient junior NCOs to deal with the discipline and organisation of the huge numbers of new recruits to Kitchener’s Army.

George remained at Shorncliffe until early December 1914 when he returned to Leverstock Green and Minnie. They were married on Christmas Eve at Holy Trinity Church in Leverstock Green with George’s brother Albert acting as a witness to the happy event. Sadly, George’s brother Albert was killed in action at the Battle of Loos on 26th September 1915. His brother-in-law and one of Minnie’s older brothers, Harry Woodwards, was also killed in the conflict. George’s daughters moved from Bushey Fields to live with their father and new step-mother in Leverstock Green and were baptised together in Holy Trinity Church on the 21st March 1915.

On his return to his regiment, George transferred to the 5th (Service) Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment, one of the newly formed ‘Pioneer’ units. The vast demand for labour for engineering and construction work on the Western Front led to the formation of Pioneer Battalions following an Army Order in December 1914. They were made up of experienced labourers and skilled men who were also trained and capable of fighting and were attached to each infantry Division. George as a time served Plumber was an ideal man for the Pioneers.

He joined the 5th (Service) Battalion (Pioneers) at Hythe in Kent in January 1915 and the unit was attached to the 12th Division. In February the Battalion moved to Aldershot to finalise training and on May 30th it mobilised for war. A day later George disembarked at Boulogne in France and by the 6th June he had moved with his comrades to the Meteren-Steenwerk area in France close to the Belgian border.

For the rest of June and July the Battalion carried out a range of works south of Ypres and around Ploegsteert Wood before moving to billets at Papot Farm in Nieppe just outside Armentieres in early August. Casualties occurred on an almost daily basis during this time due mainly to the disruptive German shelling and this pattern continued into August. By 15th August plans had been made for the construction of a Light Tramway and the work began on the following day.

The Regiment’s War Diaries record that on Tuesday, 17th August 1915 "One man died of wounds". George De Beger was that man and he had been wounded by German shellfire earlier on that day. George had been in France for just eleven weeks when he was killed.

His death was reported in the Hemel Gazette in the October following, after his wife Minnie had received confirmation, along with two letters from his Company Lieutenant and Captain. Both letters attest to George’s popularity amongst his comrades and his bravery as a soldier.

Each year for the duration of the War and on the anniversary of his death, Minnie placed an ‘In Memoriam’ notice in the Hemel Gazette proudly commemorating George. He is also commemorated on the Leverstock Greeen War Memorial and his parents remembered him on a memorial at Bushey and Oxhey Methodist Church. In the 1919 Easter service at Holy Trinity Church George was commemorated along with the other men from Leverstock Green who fell in the Great War.

George is Remembered with Honour at Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, Armentieres, Nord, France where he is interred in Plot IX B 24. The inscription on his headstone, requested by Minnie, reads simply: “REST IN PEACE”

George was 30 years old when he died.

He was eligible for the 1914-14 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.