Great Great Uncle George Charles Wright

My Great Great Uncle George (1893 - 1918) was a shop porter, private in the First World War, and an older brother of my Great Grandfather Ernest 'Len' Leonard Wright (1905 - 1981).

George was born 20th February 1893 in Exeter, Devon, to Francis 'Frank' George Wright (24), a tinsmith and plumber, and Emma Wright (nee Bennett) (22), a former domestic servant and housewife.

George was baptised on 7th March 1893 in St Mary Major, Exeter. At the time of George's baptism, the family lived at 5 Mermaid Lodge.

George was the second of ten children (eight boys and two girls):

• Francis 'Will' William  1891 - 1967  (76)
• George Charles  1893 - 1918  (25)
• Charles Arthur  1897 - 1897  (5 weeks old)
• Thomas 'Tom' Edwin  1898 - 1977  (78 or 79)
• Walter Henry  1900 - 1986  (85 or 86)
• Ernest 'Len' Leonard  1905 - 1981  (76)
• Samuel 'Sam' John  1908 - 1977  (68)
• Florence 'Florrie' Ellen  1910 - 1999  (88)
• Doris May  1912 - 1991  (79)
• Harold Reginald  1914 - 1985  (70)

In 1897, when George was four, his younger brother Charles passed away, aged only zero to three months old, in Exeter.

By early 1897, George and his family had moved from Mermaid Lodge to 10 Prospect Place, also in Exeter's West Quarter.

On 2nd October 1899, six-year-old George began attending Rack Street Central School. At the time of his enrolment, the family lived at 3 Prospect Place; however around 1899/1900, they moved again to nearby 6 Teigh Place. George would leave the school, on 9th July 1906, aged thirteen.

1901 Census:

1911 Census:

As a young man, George worked as a shop porter in Exeter.

Also around 1910, George, aged about seventeen, enlisted in the Territorial Royal Army Medical Corps.

Around 1912, the Wright family moved out of the West Quarter to 11 Clinton Street, also in Exeter.

With the start of the First World War, George transferred as a private to the 7th Reserve (Cyclist) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. He enlisted on 17th December 1914; however, he served at 'Home' until only the 6th January 1915 - only twenty days later - having been deemed unfit. Still his character was described as "good".

My father recalls bring told that an uncle of his mother, Delma, who struggled after his experience in the First World War, and lived in a shed at the bottom of the garden, and wouldn't go in the house. As far as I can discover in records, George seems to have been the only uncle of Delma who served (albeit briefly) in the First World War. Could this story have been about him?

In March 1918, George passed away at the family home of 11 Clinton Street, aged only twenty-five.

From the Western Times of 28th March 1918:

George was buried on 27th March 1918 in St Thomas cemetery, Exeter.