Matthew George was born on 10 November 1890 the fourth son and fifth child of parents Joseph Colwell Savage and Elizabeth Emma Duce; he was baptised on the 30 November at St Matthew’s, Bethnal Green. The family were living then at 2 Hereford Street, and father Joseph was a carman. Matthew George was 24 years old when he enlisted on 6th March 1915 in the Royal Welch Fusiliers (26655) in Shoreditch as a private and thus formed part of the expeditionary force to France. At various times he belonged to the 16th Battalion RWF, the 2nd London Welsh Battalion, and the 9th Battalion RWF. He was an electrical engineer at the time,and unmarried. Back home on leave between June 1917 and April 1918 because of illness, he married Elizabeth Jane Steele on the 24 September 1917; they lived at 13 Hassard Street, Hackney Road, with his now widowed father. He died of wounds received in France at 54 Casualty Clearing Station on the 1 October 1918, just over a month before the end of the war and a couple of months short of his 28th birthday. The young couple had less than a year together, and Elizabeth Jane was left a widow, with – as far as we know – no children. Matthew George is buried in Chocques Military Cemetery, France.

Angela Savage