George Nosworthy's Life and War

George attended Widecombe County Primary School (located at that time at the Church House) enrolling on 28 May 1901 and leaving 10 years later on 7 April 1911. George is on the back row on the left of this picture of Widecombe School Boys c 1907. During his time at school he would have been taught by Headmistresses Mrs Harriet Stanley and Mrs Carrie Bate (right of picture) together with assistant teacher Miss Willcocks (left of picture). It can be assumed when he left school George went labouring on local farms.

Following further training the Royal Marine Light Infantry (Plymouth and Chatham Battalions) sailed on February 6 1915 to Malta on HMT Braemar Castle (for more information see the RMD DVD Issue 19 pages 1885 - 1886), then on to Egypt to become part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force preparing for what became the Battle of Gallipoli in the Dardanelles. During this period the Marines undertook training for their future role in the forthcoming landings training on the Greek island of Lemnos (see picture left).

On March 4 the Plymouth Battalion landed at Sedd-al-Bahr (see map right) and Kum Kale to destroy the heavy guns and fortifications which had survived the Naval bombardment in the week prior to their landing. See Sergeant Meatyard's War Diary of the attack (Extracted from the RMD DVD Issue 19 pages 1870 - 1874).

As part of the extensive assault launched by Allied forces on 25 April (known as Anzac Day), the Plymouth Battalion landed at Y beach (see map left) to support the 29th Division landings. Despite continuous fighting over the following two months the breakthrough sought was not obtained. See the Private Vickers War Diary of the landing at Y beach (Extracted from the RMD DVD Issue 19 pages 1881 - 1883).

Finally, on 13th July a fresh attack was made and was successful (see Sir Ian Hamilton's quote at the top of the page. Sadly it was during this attack that George was killed, aged just 19. (A story related by the Nosworthy family says that George had been on leave and was taking his leave of his parents when he had a premonition and returned and kissed his mother "goodbye" for a second time.)

Australia marked the 100th anniversary of the battle at Gallipoli, involving as it did so many Australian and New Zealand troops, in part by producing a special issue of the one dollar coin, seen here. Note that many of these troops will have come from Britain originally.

• 1914/15 Star: awarded to servicemen who saw active service before 22 November 1914
• Victory Medal: also called "Allied Victory Medal' and awarded to all who received the 1914 Star or 1914/15 Star and, with certain exceptions, to those who received the British War Medal
• British War Medal: the medal was issued for war services between 5th August 1914 and 11th November 1918. The medal was automatically awarded in the event of death on active service before the completion of this period

Note the spelling mistake in George's surname. One theory is that this was caused by a misinterpretation of George's strong Devonshire accent, but who knows.

(source Commonwealth War Graves Commission)
Rank: Private
Service No: PLY/16698
Date of Death: 13/07/1915
Regiment/Service: Royal Marine Light Infantry, Plymouth Battalion RN Div.
Panel Reference: Panel 2 to 7
Memorial: HELLES MEMORIAL

This panel is contained within the Helles Memorial which stands on the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula. It takes the form of an obelisk over 30 metres high that can be seen by ships passing through the Dardanelles.

Further research in the Naval records confirm that Private George Nosworthy was "Buried at Sea" shortly after the 13th July 1915. This was the "normal practice" for those who died on or near the beach in Gallipoli in 1915.