Brenda McMahon has submitted the following:-
George, the son of George and Mary Ann (nee Hargreaves) was born in 1878 at Hanley, Staffordshire.
1881 shows George senior working as a potters painter whilst his wife was a potters transferer. Their children at that time were James, Tabitha, George and Tom. His wife, Mary Ann died in 1884.
By 1891 George snr. still a potters printer was living with his two sons James, a coal miner whilst young George was an apprentice rope spinner.
The 1901 census shows George jnr. living at Hanley was boarding with a family named Malkin. He is working as a coal miner waggoner below ground.
George married his sweetheart, Charlotte Bassett at The Holy Trinity Church, Hanley on November 1st 1902. Their first child George was born in 1902.
The young family had increased by 1911 with new additions of William (1904), James Henry (1906), Annie (1908) and later in 1911 Arthur. They also had at boarder in their home. George was now a coal hewer and living at Shafton near Barnsley.
‘George had a very long Army record as he first signed on in January 1897 in the North Staffordshire Regiment and served in the Boer War. His unit returned to England in 1902 and he married Charlotte Bassett on the 1st November 1902 in Hanley, Staffordshire. He transferred to the Army Reserve in January 1904 and finally he left the army in January 1909 having completed his 5 years on the Army Reserve.
In August 1914 he re-enlisted at Durham and was assigned to the 6th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment (the Green Howards) with service number 18761. He served in Gallipoli at Suvla Bay in 1915, then in Egypt in the first half of 1916 he became a member of the Brigade Machine Gun Corps. He went to France in the July of 1916 as a Corporal in the 32nd Company of the Machine Gun Corps (service number 39098) and was reported missing in the field, presumed killed at the age of 38 on the 28th September 1916 in the battle for Thiepval Ridge.
George Shaw Williams has no known grave but is commemorated with his comrades of the Machine Gun Corps on the Thiepval Memorial on Pier and Face 5 C and 12 C.
A military resume of George Shaw Williams was researched by his great grandson Ivor Davies and is attached below.
His pension for his wife and four children amounted to 28/9d per week commencing from May 7th 1917. Charlotte was living at 16 Riseburn, Middridge at this time
Charlotte William married in 1920 William C. Eggleston.
Charlotte and George's son, John Henry Williams, was killed in WW2 and is named on the Athens Memorial
William Shaw Williams is remembered at Middridge on M51.01
