George Henry Baldwin was born on Tuesday, 9th October 1894 in Hemel Hempstead, Herts the first child of George Baldwin and Sarah Elizabeth Horton. George had three younger siblings Bert, Elsie and Florence and a half-brother Ernest Cox. George’s father died in 1907 aged only thirty-six and his mother married for a second time in 1910 to Ernest Cox from Berkhamsted.

George’s father had been a ‘Blacksmith’s Labourer’ and when George was born, the family lived at ‘Moor Cottages’ in Boxmoor, also informally known as ‘Star Cottages’ on Blackbird’s Moor.

In February 1901 George was at Boxmoor JMI School where he successfully completed Standards I, II and III before he left on the 4th October 1907 to start work in a Coal Merchant’s office. His employer was Brentnall & Cleland at 33 St. John’s Road, Boxmoor but he left only a few years later to start work with G.B. Kent and Sons at the Frogmore Brushworks. His job at Kents was ‘Tooth Brush Handle Finisher’.

George was still at G.B. Kent and Sons when war broke out, but he enlisted at Hertford within a week of the declaration, one of the first Hemel Hempstead men to join the Colours and a week before the recruiting office on Marlowes had even opened. He enlisted with the Devonshire Regiment and was posted initially to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion at Exeter to undergo basic training.

George went to France three months later disembarking at Le Havre on the 3rd December 1914 and joining the 2nd Battalion Devonshires near Estaires on the 17th December. He arrived just in time to participate in the famous ‘Christmas Truce’ which the Battalion War Diary recorded as follows: ‘25th Dec. Trenches: Informal armistice during day light [Germans got out of their trenches and came towards our lines. Our men met them and they wished each other a Merry Xmas, shook hands, exchanged smokes etc.]. About 7.30pm sniping began again. We had one man killed and one wounded. Hard Frost’

The Christmas truce (which was unofficial) occurred during an early period of the war. Leading up to Christmas Day, French, German, and British soldiers crossed trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and talk. In some areas, men from both sides ventured into no man's land on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs. There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps, while several meetings ended in carol-singing. Men played games of football with one another, giving one of the most memorable images of the truce. Peaceful behaviour was not ubiquitous however and fighting continued in some sectors, while in others the sides settled on little more than arrangements to recover bodies.

In 1915 George saw action at the following engagements; the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March, the Battle of Aubers Ridge in May and the action of Bois Grenier, a diversionary attack coinciding with the Battle of Loos in September.

By late June 1916 the 2nd Devons were at Long Valley, Albert for the preparatory stages of the Battle of Albert, the first phase of the infamous Battle of the Somme. The initial British artillery bombardment of the German lines began on the 24th June and continued for seven days.

On the 1st July 1916 the 2nd Devons attacked Pozieres. A report attached to the Battalion War Diaries describes how initially, the advance towards the German lines was carried out in “the most perfect order” and got within 100 yards of the enemy trenches. However, when the final assault started at 7.30am the advancing troops were met with “a terrific machine gun fire from the front and from both flanks, which mowed down our troops”. In this mayhem confusion reigned and the report records that “No accurate information could be ascertained as to the exact number of casualties the Battalion had suffered, although it was clear that there were very few left who had not been hit.”

By noon on the first day when the advance was called off, the Battalion had suffered 238 casualties in a little over two hours. In all, on the first day of the Battle, the British suffered an horrific 57, 470 casualties and would lose another 25,000 men in the next twelve days.

George was a victim of the initial carnage and died on Saturday, 1st July 1916

His death was reported in the Hemel Gazette and a brief letter from one of his comrades was published in the paper in August 1916.

George is Remembered with Honour in Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France, Pier and Face 1C

 

He was 21 years old when he died.

George was eligible for the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.