Pauline Priano has submitted the following:-
George Young was born at Strensall, Yorkshire, February 12th 1883, one of 16 children of whom only 14 survived he was the eldest of 7 sons and 7 daughters. His father John William Young was born at Raskelf, Yorkshire where he was baptised March 10th 1967. Married at Malton, Yorkshire in October 1887 to Mary Jane Simpson of Ryton, Yorkshire, born 1866, they had moved to Strensall by 1891 where he was employed as an agricultural labourer, by 1901 he had changed employment and was a bricky and labourer. Although his parents remained in Yorkshire George and his elder siblings all worked away from home, Charlotte (22), Lily (19) and Elsie (17) as general servants, (Charles (16) and Alwyn (14) as farm labourers. George was a horseman, employed by Thomas Farrow Fawcett, secretary at the blast furnace, Carlton Iron Works.
George Young enlisted at Stockton, County Durham and was firstly assigned to the Yorkshire Regiment as Private 26774, later transferred to the Lancashire Fusiliers as Private 36758 and attached to the 19th Battalion then on to the 1st/8th Battalion.
He departed for the Western Front with the British Expeditionary Force as of 1916 where the 19th Battalion now attached to the 14th Brigade, 32nd Division saw action at Thiepvat, July 1st 1916, on the Somme. At the end of the battle they were practically wiped out and July 29th transferred to the General Head Quarters where they were assigned as a Pioneer Battalion joining the 49th (West Riding) Division, August 7th 1916.
During 1917 Private Young was again transferred to the 1st/8th Battalion which had returned from Egypt landing at Marseilles, February 27th 1917 for duty on the Western Front. Re-equipped they entered the front line at Epehy as part of the Fourth Army. In September they moved to Belgium participating during the Battle of Passchendaele before moving to Neuport on the Flanders coast. By November they had moved to Givenchy where they constructed concrete defence works. During 1918 they were back on the Somme in action at the Battles of the Hindenburg Line.
Private George Young Lancashire Fusiliers was taken prisoner by the Germans, March 22nd 1918 during the Battle of Gommecourt and is listed only as “died”, November 13th 1918, two days after Armistice was declared. The cause of his death is unknown but could be attributed either to wounds, as a consequence of treatment received at the hands of the Germans whilst a prisoner of war or disease. He was 35 years old and single.
He was originally buried at Pietrebais Churchyard, Brabant, Walloon, Belgium and a headstone was raised on his grave. His father John William Young received all monies due to him and his awards of the British War Medal and Victory Medal sent to him at Cobbs Cottage, Strensall, North Yorkshire.
During the post war years, it was decided by the Imperial War Graves Commission that certain graves were to be moved and concentrated in already existing cemeteries. The remains of Private Young, who was the only British military personnel buried at Pietrebais Churchyard, were exhumed and brought into Tournai Communal Cemetery Allied Extension, Hainaut, Belgium, for reburial, June 28th 1929. He is at rest grave IV. N. 29.
John William Young had died during the 1st quarter of 1929 at Stockton, aged 62 years, it was George’s mother who commissioned at the cost of 7 shillings 7 pence an additional inscription to be added to his military headstone, it reads’ “ In Memory-God Knows Best-Mother”.
Norman Fawcett, the son of George’s pre-war employer Thomas Farrow Fawcett and his adoptive son Frank Blenkinsop also perished during WW1 and are commemorated at Stillington.
It should be noted that German records handed to the Red Cross, in error, list Private Young’s service number as 26758, all other entries are correct. Burial Return records compiled by the Imperial War Graves Commission state the date of his demise as November 13th 1918, the CWGC have listed November 11th 1918.
In God’s safe keeping. Rest In Peace.
George Young is remembered at Stillington on S137.01
