Photo courtesy Stockton on Tees Museum Service

Stockton Cemetery

In Stockton Cemetery is a family headstone which reads:-

In loving memory
of
Sgt. George H. Cummings "Canadians"
Who died of wounds Aug. 29th 1916
Aged 27 years
Also Pte. Fred Cummings "Canadians"
Killed in action April 12th 1917
Aged 20 years
The beloved sons of
Henry and Mary Ann Cummings
Also Pte. Harold Cummings York Regt.
Brother of the above
Died from the effects of wounds
Sept. 25th 1921 aged 27 years
Also Frank
Brother of the above
Died Oct. 9th 1925 aged 24 years
Also the above
Mary Ann Cummings
Died Oct. 30th 1931 aged 69 years
Also the above
Henry Meynell Cummings
Who died Feb. 14th 1937 aged 78 years

Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-

George Henry Cummings was the first of the five sons of Northallerton born ironworks fitter Henry Meynell Cummings and his Stockton born wife Mary Ann (nee Bainbridge). They had married in 1887 and waited for the birth of their first child born on 10th October 1889, followed by Norman (b.1892), Harold (b.1894), Frederick (b.1896) and Frank (b.1900).

In 1901 the family were living at 57 Third Street, Stockton, and when of an age the boys all attended Stockton Secondary School. By 1911 they had moved to 57 Hind Street and apart from Frank who was still at school, all the boys had jobs; George was working as a solicitor’s clerk, Fred was an office boy, Harold a shoemaker and Norman an engineer’s patternmaker.

The end of October 1912 saw George travel to Canada on the SS Corsican to join friends who had previously emigrated and had much to say about their new life. But at the start of hostilities George was one of the first to volunteer to fight when he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 23rd September 1914 at the newly created camp at Valcartier in Quebec.

Assigning his pay of $15 per month to his mother, George became Private 18710 in the 101st Edmonton Fusiliers, arriving in England in October 1914 and was then transferred to the 9th Reserve Battalion based at Shorncliffe in Kent. After time spent on base details Private Cummings was posted to the 2nd Battalion serving in France, joining them in Vlamertinghe on 1st May 1915 for three weeks further training before entering the trenches at Festubert.

George remained with the Battalion being promoted to Sergeant, and it was during fighting on 14th July 1916 in the Somme Valley that Sergeant Cummings was wounded in his left arm and abdomen. Taken to 17 CCS his arm was amputated below the elbow and his stomach wound cleaned and dressed. Dangerously ill he was evacuated by hospital ship to the Military Hospital, Edmonton in north London, but succumbed to pneumonia and died there on 29th August 1916.

George Henry Cummings is remembered in Stockton on S138.12, S138.17, S138.18a and S138.33

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

Canadian Book of Remembrance
Canadian Virtual Memorial
The CWGC entry for Sergeant Cummings