Service no. 1477
Private, Middlesex Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Killed in action on 22 January 1915
Born in Clapham, enlisted in Lambeth
Remembered at Rue-du-Bacquerot No. 1 Military Cemetery, Laventie, Pas de Calais, France
National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918
JESSETT, G. C., Private, 2nd Middlesex Regiment
He volunteered in October 1914, on attaining military age, and two months later proceeded to the Western Front, where he was unfortunately killed in action in his first engagement on January 22nd, 1915. He was entitled to the 1914-15 Star and the General Service and Victory Medals.
"He died the noblest death a man may die,
Fighting for God, and right, and liberty."
26, Bromell's Road, Clapham Common, S.W.4.
British Army Service Records
Jessett's records are very water-damaged and difficult to read. Some details are lost.
Name: The records give his name as George Childs Jessett and this is how he signed his attestation form and on Army Form B. 178A, "Charles" has been struck through and corrected to "Childs". However, his name is given as George Charles Jessett on the 1911 census return form filled in and signed by his father Thomas Charles Jessett and the parish records for Holy Trinity Church, Clapham, show him as George Charles Jessett, born 23 April 1896 to Thomas (a carpenter) and Maria Jessett of 59 Brommells Road, Clapham.
Jessett was born in Clapham
Born: 23 April 1896
Age: Jessett claimed on 25 August 1914 that he was 19 years and 4 months old. However, he was only 18 years and 4 months.
Occupation: Butcher
Height: 5 feet 6 1/2 inches
Weight: 123 pounds (just under 8 1/2 stone)
Chest: 35 inches + 3 inches expansion
Physical development: Good
In 1919 when Maria Jessett filled in Army Form W. 5080, which lists the casualty's surviving family, he had 7 siblings (rather than 8 on the 1911 census). One brother, James John Jessett, was a sergeant with the 9th Battalion of East Surreys. The address of Sarah Josefine Jessett, 33, was given as Broadmoor, Crowthorne, Berkshire.
Effects: [illegible], prayer book, pipe, tobacco pouch
Service: At the time of his death, Jessett has served 151 days, 27 of which were in France.
Information from the 1911 census
In 1911 George Charles Jessett was a 14-year-old schoolboy living in four rooms at 26 Bromells Road, Clapham with his parents and siblings. His father, Thomas Charles Jessett, 49, was a carpenter, born in Winchfield, Hampshire; his mother, Maria Jessett, 47, was from Deptford, south-east London. The Jessetts had nine surviving children, of whom these were on the census return (all were born in Clapham):
George Charles Jessett, 14
William Harry Jessett, 13
James John Jessett, 12,
Ada May Jessett, 10
Robert Walter Jessett, 4