George Montague MARGRETT
Ancestral line as currently established: George Montague 1893, William 1856, Henry 1819, William 1787, William 1760, ?.................Family Tree number 10
Born: 25JUN1893 in Yew Tree House, Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, England
Eighth of eleven children of -
Father: William Henry Margrett-Roberts
Mother: Elizabeth Trippick
George Married: abt. 1919 in Gloucester?
Spouse: Christina Moir McLachlan
Children: Eunice M 1921
Joan M, 1926 died aged 10
Died: 1974 aged 81, with his death registered in the Weston registration district, (possibly this is Weston super Mare, but it needs a birth certificate to be sure.)
George is one of those persons who saved this country by serving in the First World War. The late Monica Margrett discovered that the life of her uncle (amongst others) had been researched and recorded by the Cheltenham author Steve Miller, in a book "A Gloucestershire Village in the Great War, - Apperley and Deerhurst, 1914 - 1918". George's life was featured in the Margrett magazine No:16 of August 2003.
In March 1901 he was by then aged 7 and his sister, Dorothy Violet was two weeks old. At home were eight siblings, four brothers and four sisters. His father probably owned Yew Tree Cottage and was a basket maker in Deerhurst using local materials in a trade that had not changed for generations. (Deerhurst was the ancient capital of King Odda more than 900 years previously).
His grandfather had married Sarah Deakins in Deerhurst in 1839, but she had died in 1843 and left him with a very young child. Louisa Roberts came to his aid as his housekeeper. She was probably slightly older and they do not seem to have been married, with the first child of their union called after her mother with the name Roberts. This is how George's father came to be called William Henry Margrett-Roberts.
By 1911 George is 17 and his father records himself as having been married eleven years and having had eleven children with ten still living. Aged 55, he supports a large household including his second son, Albert aged 29 and his new wife, and naturally his son is working for him.
Steve Miller discovered that "George attended Tewksbury Grammer (sic) School and then trained as a teacher at a school in London." But then "George enlisted in November 1915 as a Private at the Duke Road Barracks, Chelsea in the 28th Battalion, London Regiment (Artists Rifles). In June 1916 the Headmaster of Deerhurst school gave his younger sister, Dorothy, time off to say goodbye to her brother when he was on final leave before going to the front." In July he is promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and transferred to the 19th Battalion of the Civil Service Rifles.
During 1917 George's Battalion were heavily involved in the fighting in and around Bourton Wood near Cambrai. Many unsuccessful attempts had been made to dislodge the Germans.
"On 1st December 1917 in the face of a fierce attack, Haig's orders to retire came. But George's machine gun company were given the job of covering the withdrawal. They set up the Lewis gun in a sap, with the objective of holding up any German intent on pursuing the retirement. It was not the German infantry that were the main problem. The German artillery had extremely accurate maps of the area and subsequently their shelling was precise. They found their range almost as soon as the retirement got underway."
" Fortunately most of the rest of the battalion managed to fall back without too many causalities. Not so George and his machine gun company. A German shell landed almost in the middle of them and fragments tore into the men causing numerous injuries and fatalities. George himself was seriously wounded in his buttocks and neck. He was taken quickly to one of the military hospitals in Rouen where he underwent emergency surgery; it was successful."
"However, after eight months convalescence in Ashton Court Hospital, Bristol, he still couldn't walk without a stick. In January 1918 whilst still on sick leave, George received a promotion to full Lieutenant on the recognition of his Colonel. George's teaching experience had naturally come to the fore during his time in the army. His skill in 'imparting knowledge' was recognised by his superiors and, whilst not fit for front line duty, George still had a significant contribution to make to the war effort. He spent the rest of the war as a Lewis gun instructor."
"During early 1919, many soldiers began to arrive home. However, some like Lt. George Margrett, who were serving in the Army of occupation on the Rhine, were forced to stay in the army a little longer. The returning troops had been promised a 'land fit for heroes' and the 'eternal gratitude of the country'. Yet within just a few months of the Armistice, the London Education Board threatened poor George with the sack because his de-mobilisation papers did not come through fast enough! Only the intervention of his commanding officer prevented him from joining the increasing ranks of the unemployed when he returned home in early 1920."
If we are right in guessing his marriage as being in 1919, on returning to England, that would have been in the Gloucestershire area, because his first child, Eunice was born in 1921 and her birth was registered in the Gloucester registry.
Sunday 19th June 1921 George completes the Census return paper for his house, "Arnsbrae" Tuffley Avenue, in Gloucester city. He is aged 28 and is an Assistant Inspector of Taxes, a Civil Service with the Inland Revenue @ Nettleton Road also in Gloucester. With him at home that evening is his sister, Mabel R Margrett a couple of years younger and yet unmarried. Where is Christina? She is at the Spa Hursey Home, 1 Beaufort, Buildings, in the city having given birth to Eunice just a few days earlier. What a precious moment to see each supporting each other as a new family is created.
In 1926 George's brother Harold, aged 38, got married registering the event in Winchcombe a few miles away from the family home in Deerhurst.
Within five years, George and Christina, his wife, have been blessed with a second child, Joan. Her birth was registered in Barnsley which most likely would be the one in Yorkshire, but there is also one in Gloucestershire. Sadly, in 1937 only ten years later they would lose her, registering her death in Chelsea, part of London.
In 1931, George lost his mother, Elizabeth, in the family village of Deerhurst. George's father, William, outlived his wife and passed away during the Second World War in 1942. Possibly in 1944, George's only remaining daughter Eunice, became a War Bride as she married an American called Ellis Eugene Frady and arrived in America to see her days out there. We don't know whether George ever visited his daughter and her two children born in the 1950's, but since he could have been in his 60's it is perfectly possible.
Then came the year of confrontation for the United Kingdom when, in early September 1939, war is declared against Germany. To allow the government to prepare call-up papers, issue ration books, and get a full account of the population under it's command, at the end of the month a National Register is created. It requires every household to record their address, the full names of those living there with their dates and years of birth, marital status, and occupations. George is 46, married and an Inspector of Taxes. Christina, his wife is 41 and is running the household at 34 College Avenue, Thurrock, Essex, with their daughter, Eunice aged 18 and still a student. There are going to be difficult things to hande for them all as the days progress.
In the years before his death, George, with so many siblings, had to endure many of them dying before him. His brother Albert aged 64 died in 1946 shortly after their father. His brother Harold aged 78 died in 1965, followed by William in 1970 aged 90, and Florence in 1973 aged 87.
George lived to the age of 81 dying in 1974, with a full working life to his credit (at least in part as an Inspector of Taxes, but the source of that is not yet established), but about which we have scant knowledge yet, hoping that one of the family will share the rest of his story with us.
An article of the life of George Montague was published in August 2003 in the Margrett Magazine, which was deposited at the British Library under ISSN 0269-0284, also with the Guild of One Namesed Studies Library and in Gloucestershire County Archives.