Private George Brotherton (1892 – 1915)

Service No: 8907 – 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards

George Brotherton was born in Evesham in 1892, the third of seven children born to John Samuel Brotherton, a market gardener, and Martha Blake. By 1901 the family has moved to 58 Garrison Street in the parish of Aston with George’s father working as a Bricklayer’s Labourer. The 1911 census shows that the family has moved again, this time to 55 Warren Road, Washwood Heath, Saltley. At this date his George’s father is listed as being a worker at the municipal gas works. This was probably Saltley Gas Works, which at its height was the largest in Europe.

In 1914 George married Elizabeth Hancox, the daughter of William Hancox and Ann Ray and who hailed from Hodge Hill, Castle Bromwich. George appears to have lived with his in-laws before setting off for war.

According to Soldiers Died in the Great War, George was enlisted in Birmingham to serve in the 1^st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards. Records show that he was stationed at Aldershot for some of August 1914, and his medal index card indicates that he entered a Theatre of War later that month on 13^th August.

The 1^st Battalion was mobilised for war and moved to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force. The Battalion was involved with the Battle of Mons and the subsequent retreat, the Battle of Marne, the Battle of Aisne and the First Battle of Ypres.

Field diaries show that on the 25^th January 1915 the Battalion was in the trenches near Cuinchy when four mines exploded followed by the Germans rushing forward and occupying the first lines of trenches. Private George Brotherton was one of 86 men from the Coldstream Guards to die on that day, 25th January 1915, 68 of whom, including George, are commemorated at Le Touret Memorial, between Bethune and Armentieres in the Pas de Calais, France.

Little over a month after his death George’s widow Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter, also Elizabeth, on 27^th February 1915. After the war, she married George’s brother, Sam, in 1919. Sam also served in the war. They had a son, Arthur in 1920.