George Henry Windley
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- Military History
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George Henry Windley was the son of George Henry Windley (b. 1866) and his wife Annie (née Horsley) who were married at Radford St Peter’s Church on 25 December 1884. They had at least seven children, three of whom died in infancy or childhood: George Henry b. 1885 d. 1888, Ellen Annie birth registered 1887 (J/F/M) d. 1888, Ernest b. 1889, George Henry b. 1891, Herbert birth registered 1894 (J/F/M), John birth registered 1896 (J/F/M) and Ida Annie b. 1899 d. 1900. The Windley family lived at: 21 Greek Street, Radford [C.1891]; 5 Arthur Terrace, Independent Street, Radford [C.1901]. Ann/Annie Windley died at Nottingham, aged 40, in 1904 leaving her husband with four sons between the ages of 8 and 14. In 1906 George Henry Windley senior married a widow, Emma Thompson (née Ley), at Nottingham. Emma had married Charles Henry Thompson in 1883 and they had at least four children: Charles b. 1884, Alice Emma b. 1887, Adela b. 1891 and Wallace Herbert b. 1896. The family was living at 50 Bloomsgrove Street, Radford, in 1901: Charles snr. a curtain card puncher, Emma a dressmaker's machinist, Charles a machine fitter's apprentice, Alice a silk mill doffer, Adela and Wallace. Charles snr. probably died in 1906. In 1911 George Henry, a foreman in the lace trade, and Emma could be found living at 32 Collison Street, Hyson Green, with three of his children, George Henry and Herbert who were both threaders (lace trade) and John, a tailor's apprentice, together with three of his stepchildren Alice Bucknall (m. 1908, Henry Bucknall) and her two children Henry Victor and Alice, Adela a brass winder (lace trade) and Wallace a joiner's apprentice. George's eldest son, Ernest, a twist hand, was a boarder at 24 Ben Street, Nottingham, in the household of John Allison, a cabinet maker, and his wife Margaret. An Army document gave George Henry Windley senior’s address as 288 Alfreton Road, Nottingham [1919]. The same address was given for him in the post-war CWGC records and the 1939 England & Wales Register. George Henry Windley senior, who was a foreman in a lace factory, died at Nottingham, aged 84, in 1950. His second wife, Emma, died the same year, also aged 84. On 17 January 1914 George Henry Windley married Lilian Parkin at Radford All Souls Church. They did not have had any children. His wife lived at 92 Norwood Road, Radford [Army records/1915 & 1919]. This was also the address given in the post-war CWGC records. Lilian Windley never remarried and died at Nottingham, aged 82, in 1975.
He enlisted at Nottingham on 7 December 1915 but placed in the Army Reserve; was called up to join the 19th Bn. Sherwood Foresters on 2 April 1916. George was drafted to the BEF France on 16 July 1916 and posted to the 15th Bn. Sherwood Foresters. The 15th (Service) Bn was a battalion of the New Army, raised in Nottingham in February 1915 by the Mayor and a Committee as a Bantam Battalion. It served with the BEF France from February 1916. George was wounded in action on 12 July 1917 but was able to rejoin his battalion on 17 July 1917. He was declared missing in the period 20 to 23 October 1917 and subsequently declared to have been killed in action on 20 October 1917. His body was never recovered for burial and his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, West Vlaanderen, Belgium. He qualified for the British War Medal and Victory Medal. CWGC - History of Tyne Cot Memorial (extract): 'The Tyne Cot Memorial is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders which cover the area known as the Ypres Salient. Broadly speaking, the Salient stretched from Langemarck in the north to the northern edge in Ploegsteert Wood in the south, but it varied in area and shape throughout the war. The Salient was formed during the First Battle of Ypres in October and November 1914, when a small British Expeditionary Force succeeded in securing the town before the onset of winter, pushing the German forces back to the Passchendaele Ridge. The Second Battle of Ypres began in April 1915 when the Germans released poison gas into the Allied lines north of Ypres. This was the first time gas had been used by either side and the violence of the attack forced an Allied withdrawal and a shortening of the line of defence. There was little more significant activity on this front until 1917, when in the Third Battle of Ypres an offensive was mounted by Commonwealth forces to divert German attention from a weakened French front further south. The initial attempt in June to dislodge the Germans from the Messines Ridge was a complete success, but the main assault north-eastward, which began at the end of July, quickly became a dogged struggle against determined opposition and the rapidly deteriorating weather. The campaign finally came to a close in November with the capture of Passchendaele.' (www.cwgc.org)
CWGC: 'Son of George and Emma Windley [stepmother], of 288, Alfreton Rd., Nottingham; husband of Lilian Windley, of 92, Norwood Rd., Radford, Nottingham.'
