Pte. G.E. Pattinson

FIRST NAMES: George Ernest

UNIT: 19th Manchester Regiment

NUMBER: 12171

STATUS: Died of Wounds

DATE OF DEATH: 4th May 1916

CEMETERY OR MEMORIAL: St. Ouen Communal Cemetery, France

AGE: 28

George Pattinson was the son of Mr. George Walton Pattinson, a local Journalist, and his mother's name was Annie Frances Pattinson (nee Easton). George was born in April 1888 and was baptised on 11th May 1888. In 1891 George and Annie were living on Station Road with children Hugh (7), George (2), and John (1), together with Annie's mother, Frances. By 1901, they were living on South Parade, Hugh had left home and George and John were joined by siblings Dora (9), Harry (7), Winifred (6), Edward (3) and Sophia (1).

George's father was a well known local figure who set up the Allertonshire Football League and who acted as the League's Seceretary for 12 years. He was also a keen angler who helped to establish the Black Ox Angling Club at Leeming.

Before the War, George worked for George Oxendale & Co. at their Manchester branch. The 1911 Census records him as living at 20 Exeter Street, Ardwick, Manchester, as a boarder, in a house owned by a Mary Ann Martin and he is recorded as being an assistant in a drapery warehouse.

When War broke out he enlisted on 10th September 1914 in the 19th Manchester Regiment (otherwise known as the 4th Manchester Pals) and sailed with them to France, from Southampton on the SS Queen Alexandra on 7th November 1915. On enlistment he was described as being 5'9" tall, with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and dark brown hair.

There is some uncertainty as to his unit movements after he landed in France. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Register he was attached to the 21st Company of the L.B.M.G Section when he died, but his service record suggests that he was transferred to the 96th Royal Field Artillery.

On 8th January 1916 he is recorded as suffering from a septic toe and on the 16th from an abrasion, but was discharged to duty. On 20th April 1916 he was taken to No.3 Casualty Clearing Station suffering from Trench Nephritis, a type of kidney infection in which the blood vessels in the kidneys become inflamed. This specific type of nephritis was unknown before the War and it's cause was never identified, though further post-war research suggested that it may have been caused by a virus spread by rats.

He was transferred to No 39 Casualty Clearing Station at St. Ouen on 2nd May 1916, but died two days later, aged 28. His father had died the previous February after a long illness.

George appears on the list of NCOs on the Northallerton Memorial, but according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, his official rank was that of Private and his service record makes no mention of any promotion to corporal.