The Royal British Legion
Staple Branch
Charity Number 219279
George Alfred Beerling
Died on 12th July 1916 Aged 20
7th Battalion The Buffs (East Kent Regiment)
George was born in Summerfield, Staple on 29th December 1895. We’ve already met his brother Thomas, off to be a sailor when George was 14. By the time he was 15 the family had moved to No. 8, Church Cottages and both George and his father were working as farm labourers.
When War was declared in August 1914, George was 18 and, a mere month into the war, his brother was killed. The loss of Thomas’ ship and her sister ships was a national shock and headline news with all the grim details aired in the press. Recruiting parties were visiting towns and villages urging young men to enlist and newspapers and posters urged 'When your country is in danger the place of honour is in the firing line' and 'The min in the trenches are calling you'. The pressure was intense. Little wonder, then that the day before his 19th birthday, George enlisted in Canterbury.
He landed in France in September where the Battalion spent the winter in the trenches at Giverney, bombarded by heavy artillery and up to waist deep in mud.
The Battle of the Somme started on 1st July with 59,000 casualties on the first morning. Reinforcements were desperately needed and the 18th Division, with George, were occupying Marlborough Wood as part of the Battle of Albert. They were involved in heavy fighting and relieved on 8th July after suffering 3,400 casualties. While they were 'resting' behind the lines a fierce battle was taking place at Trones Wood with the wood changing hands during frequent, costly counter attacks. On 12th July George’s 18th Division was ordered to take the wood “At all costs”.
One of the costs was our own George Beerling. Of a whole Battalion, only 150 survivors reached the other side of the wood. Very few of those killed have a marked grave. The vast majority, including George, are remembered on the Theipval Memorial.
Theipval Memorial