Day the war ended

[bcerha]

On ‎11‎/‎3‎/‎2008 at 08:48, John Hayes Fisher said:

Hi Chris

Thanks for your comments. In relation to Ellison we actually found out more than we could include. What had shocked me was the fact that much that had been written about Ellison was plainly wrong. For example you will find several internet sites which say he was in his mid 20's including a book which came out last year (Which I believe Chris Baker reviewed...in not too glowing terms!). Anyway for example we found out George Ellisons birth - 1878 in York (from vaccination & marriage certificates) which showed that he was 40 and not in his mid 20's when he died. We found out that in 1912 Ellison was a coal miner (marriage certificate) and yet as Paul Reed deduced the fact that he was there at the outbreak of the war he had to have been a serving soldier. Paul also said that his service number indicated someone who had joined up in the early years of the 20th century. We found out about his family (from the CWGC) that he had a son who was 5 days short of his 5th Birthday when his father was killed. We found a picture of Ellison from Dec 18 in the Yorkshire Evening News (many national newspapers had been looking) which was not great quality but not even his grandchildren had seen a photo of their own grandfather .... so I guess that's new too. Oh yes I suppose for me the greatest discovery we made was finding the family as even they were unaware that their grandfather is generally regarded (CWGC/Rose Coombs) as the last British soldier to be killed in action in the Great War.

Hopefully Paul is going to gather together the information and put it on his own website. What I’m really hoping is that this programme and discussions like this will bring even more information out about Ellison. Information which the family would love to know.

Its one of those weird things that many have talked about that John Parr is buried opposite George Edwin Ellison and if Im correct Parr was just 16 and Ellison 40...neither the usual 18 year old conscripts that we so often think of in WW1.

All the best

john

Hi John, have just been trying to find out further details of George Edwin Ellison's pre-war Service - but have pretty much drawn a blank via the available online services. All that I have found confirm your findings above. The only slight glimmer of additional information I have found is that it says in  "Soldiers Died in the Great War" he is listed as enlisting in Hull (Leeds). I can only assume that he enlisted in Hull but was living in Leeds at the time which would tally with both the 1901 census and 1912 marriage certificate. I am going to try and seek access to the Regimental Records of the 5th Lancers to see if they have any information on him and will let you know what I come up with.  The only likely gap in which he could have done regular service as far as I can ascertain is between 1901 and 1911.

Best regards

 

David      

[Ron Clifton]

13 hours ago, bcerha said:

in  "Soldiers Died in the Great War" he is listed as enlisting in Hull (Leeds). I can only assume that he enlisted in Hull but was living in Leeds at the time

I think that you have made the correct assumption. My copy of Officers Died is not to hand at the moment but, from what I recall, that is exactly what "e. Hull (Leeds)" means.

 

Ron

[David_Underdown]

The "lived in" can be a bit misleading.  In my experience it actually seems to be based on the address for next-of-kin in the man's records.  Often that is indeed where the man was living, but occasionally it can be completely unrelated eg a man who'd actually moved some distance from his parents, or a wife met during the war who carried on living in her home town rather than moving to his while he was away fighting

[bcerha]

Watched the programme again on Yesterday last night - excellent and hugely informative with a great piece about Ellison and linking his story to his Granddaughters. However, as nothing was mentioned about his pre-war service be it between 1902 and 1911 or from 1912 to 1914 I can only assume that there is no conclusive evidence available about these periods in his life and that is all we will ever know about him.   

[NigelS]

Repeated again tonight (1st/2nd November 2018, ) at 12.30am on BBC4 (See https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/208712-the-machine-gun-skyes-band-of-brothers/?do=findComment&comment=2698887 for other Great War programmes on BBC4 tonight)

 

NigelS