John Archibald George, known as Archie, was born on Wednesday, 28th February 1894 in Apsley End, Hertfordshire and baptised the following month on Sunday, 25th March at St Mary’s Church. His parents were William George and Ellen Putman who had twelve children in all, four of whom died. The known children were; Louisa, Minnie, Kate, William Charles ‘Charlie’, Alice, Violet, John Archibald ‘Archie’, Annie, Henry and Harold. Louisa died in 1914 aged thirty-three, Annie and Henry both died in infancy in 1896 and 97 respectively.

Archie’s family lived at 46 Weymouth Street, Apsley End when he was born and his father was a ‘Road Worker’ whilst four of his older siblings worked for Dickinson & Co. Limited in Apsley Mills.

By the time he was seventeen, the family had moved to 3 Catlin Street, Apsley End and Archie was working as a ‘Farm Labourer’. He would later work for Herts County Council.

On the outbreak of war Archie enlisted with the East Surrey Regiment, attesting at Watford in October 1914. He was posted to the 11th (Service) Battalion at Devonport to undergo basic training. He moved with the Battalion to Dartmouth in December and in April 1915 the 11th became a ‘Reserve’ battalion and moved to Colchester.

George completed his training there and was posted to the 8th East Surreys which came under orders of the 55th Brigade in the 18th (Eastern) Division. He left for France landing at Boulogne on the 25th August 1915 and joining his comrades at Dernancourt on the 29th August. Between September and the following June Archie saw action in the trenches just south of Albert. In common with most other units during this time the 8th Battalion did not move very far and it stayed no more than a few miles from Albert and by late June it was in position for the planned assault at the beginning of July 1916.

The Battle of Albert began on Saturday, 1st July 1916 and the 8th Battalion East Surreys were tasked to capture Montauban Ridge. The initial assault is remembered particularly for the actions of Captain W. P. ‘Billie’ Nevill of ‘B’ Company and what became known as the “Football Charge”. The story was widely reported in the press within days of the attack, telling how Captain Nevill provided four footballs for his platoons to kick across No Man’s Land as they advanced and capturing the imagination of the British public.

 “The captain of one of the companies had provided four footballs, one for each platoon, urging them to keep up a dribbling competition all the way over the mile and a quarter of ground they had to traverse. As the company formed on emerging from the trench, the platoon commanders kicked off, and the match against Death commenced. The gallant captain himself fell early in the charge, and men began to drop rapidly under the hail of machine-gun bullets. But still the footballs were booted onwards, with hoarse cries of encouragement or defiance, until they disappeared in the dense smother behind which the Germans were shooting. Then, when the bombs and bayonets had done their work, and the enemy had cleared out, the Surrey men looked for their footballs, and recovered two of them in the captured traverses. These will be sent to the Regimental Depot at Kingston as trophies worth preserving.” One football was printed with the words ‘The Great European Cup-Tie Final. East Surreys v Bavarians. Kick off at zero.’ Another read: “NO REFEREE”, which was Captain Nevill’s way of telling the men they needn’t treat the Hun too gently.

The East Surreys successfully took Montauban Ridge but at a cost of eight Officers and 125 Other Ranks Killed and five Officers and 400 Other Ranks Wounded. The vast majority of these casualties were incurred in ‘No Mans Land’ and were due to “extremely heavy machine gun fire”.

Archie was one of the unfortunate men killed in the assault and he died on Saturday, 1st July 1916.

His death was reported in the Hemel Gazette in July and a letter of sympathy from his C.O. was published in August 1916.

Archie is Remembered with Honour on Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France, Pier and Face 6B.

He was 22 years old when he died. Archie was eligible for the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.