Elmwood Cemetery

Winnipeg Tribune, 26/11/1915

Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-

The youngest son of local stonemason David Berry Moses and his wife, Hereford born Elizabeth Miller, George Frederick, like all his siblings, was born in Whitburn. His oldest brother Edward was born in 1878, three years after his parents’ marriage, and there was also Anna, Margaret, Eleanor and David, before George was born on 6th September 1887.

By 1901 the family had moved to live in Ryhope and only the four youngest children were still living at home with their parents. George spent three years living and working in Canada on farms in Saskatchewan, returning to Sunderland in November 1909. In the second quarter of 1910 he married local girl Elizabeth Jane Forster and the 1911 census shows the couple living with her parents in Freeze Moor Road, New Herrington along with their eight month old daughter Mary and George was working as a colliery horsekeeper.

On 29th April 1913 George arrived back in Canada, having sailed from Glasgow on board the SS Praetorian, this time he was making for Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he was joined six months later by Elizabeth and Mary. By 1915 the family were living in Jessie Avenue and George was working as a teamster. He was also a member of the local militia, the 106th Winnipeg Light Infantry, a regiment which at that time was twinned with the Durham Light Infantry.

The beginning of June 1915 saw George enlist with the 61st Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force when he became Private 460357, and was posted to Camp Hughes, Manitoba to begin his army training. At the beginning of November the Battalion moved into winter quarters at McGregor Street Barracks in Winnipeg but three days later George was admitted to Winnipeg General Hospital with jaundice where his condition improved but then worsened. Doctors recommended surgery for obstructive jaundice, and he underwent gall bladder surgery late on the afternoon of 23rd November. His medical report states that “Private Moses sank after the operation and died at 6am the following day”. An autopsy revealed that he was actually suffering from acute infectious jaundice.

George Frederick Moses was the first member of the 61st Battalion to die on active duty. On 26th November, the full battalion formed up on Main Street and his body was loaded on a gun carriage and the parade then moved off to Elmwood Cemetery where he was buried with full military honours.

Elizabeth Jane and daughter Mary returned to live in Sunderland in February 1916.

George Fred Moses is remembered in Sunderland on S140.048 part 9, page 201, and in Ryhope on R52.01 and R52.02

In Canada he is remembered on their Virtual War Memorial and in their Book of Remembrance and on the Manitoba Historical Society War Memorial.

Canadian Book of Remembrance
Canadian Virtual Memorial
The CWGC entry for Private Moses