George Herbert Key
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
George Herbert Key was the son of William Key and Mary Jane Mayfield who married at Nottingham in 1887. Their children included: George Herbert (b.1887), Sarah Ann (b.1891), Lizzie/Elizabeth (b.1896) and Mabel (b.1902). The Key family lived at 12 Truswells Place, Radford [C.1891 & C.1901]. However by 1911 it would appear that William and Mary Jane had split up. In 1911 Mary Jane Key (with two daughters) was acting as housekeeper and living as a boarder in the house of Albert Edward Marygold, a widower, with four children of his own at 29 St Peter’s Street, Radford. Mary Jane married Albert Marygold at Nottingham in 1917. They lived at 162 Radford Boulevard Radford [CWGC]. Mary Jane Marygold died at Nottingham, aged 81, in 1947. Quite what happened to William Key is unclear - his whereabouts in the 1911 census have not been pinpointed. George Herbert Key is known to have served under the surname ‘Woodward’ with the Sherwood Foresters before the war. In 1911 Herbert Woodward, Private, age 25, a single man, born in Nottingham, was out in India and was serving with the 1st Bn. Sherwood Foresters. This, in all likelihood, was our man.
He enlisted at Litchfield, Staffordshire; before the war served with the Sherwood Foresters; transferred to Grenadier Guards; died from his wounds; his body was buried at the Bluet Farm Cemetery, West Vlaanderen, Belgium.
Served under the surname of Woodward A pre-war regular soldier, he enlisted in the Sherwood Foresters on 14th January 1905 (his recruiting officer being the then Major Lionel Arthur Bosanquet, who was killed at Gallipoli with 9th Battalion on 21st August 1915), serving in India with 2nd Battalion. Convicted of drunken and disorderly conduct on 17th September 1906, he was discharged, his services being no longer required, following his return to England on 25th January 1908. Re-enlisting under the assumed name of Woodward in the Grenadier Guards, he landed in France as a reinforcement to 1st Battalion on 12th November 1914. He died of wounds on 2nd November 1917 serving with 4th Battalion Grenadier Guards and is buried in Bleuet Farm Cemetery, the former miner was the 32 year-old son of Mary Jane Marygold (formerly Key) and the late William Key, of 162, Radford Boulevard, Nottingham, and the late William Key. Above extra information is courtesy of Jim Grundy and his facebook pages Small Town Great War Hucknall 1914-1918
