George Richard Andrews
Hospital Orderly Duties, Transport of Wounded and Air Raid Duty
Born on 4th May 1878, George Richard Andrews was baptised on 23rd June that year in Ullingswick, a small village in Herefordshire. He was the oldest child of John and Jane (nee Gillet) Andrews, also of Herefordshire.
In 1881 the family lived at Phocle Green, Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire. John worked as an agricultural labourer. George was almost three years old, he had two younger sisters – Naomi J who was a year old, and Bertha E was just two weeks old.
The family were still living in Phocle Green in 1891. George, Naomi and Bertha had been joined by siblings Mary (born 1882), Emily (1884, though she was not at the address on the 1891 census), Charles (1888) and William John (1890). Another brother, Albert (known as Bertie), followed in 1893.
The 1891 census
By 1901 George had left home, presumably due to his work as a railway porter. At the time of the 1901 census he was boarding with a family called Kilmeister in Oulton with Woodlesford, near Leeds.
George shown boarding in Oulton with Woodlesford
Railway employment records from 1899 show George being based at Woodlesford Station, and notes his height as being 5′ 5″.
Railway employment records
George must have moved to Keighley in the next couple of years, as he married Nellie Milner at Keighley Parish Church on 19th August 1905. His address was 33 Fell Lane and his occupation was railway porter.
George and Nellie’s marriage record
In 1911 George and Nellie lived at 53 Clitheroe Street in Skipton. George’s occupation at this time was ‘Emergency Man’ for Midland Railway. I have yet to find an explanation as to what an emergency man did. They had a son, Sydney who was three months old.
By the time of war, they had moved to Eelholme View Street in Keighley. George worked at Spencer Street Auxiliary Hospital and Morton Banks Hospital from May 1915 until May 1919, undertaking 1200 hours of work across roles of hospital orderly duties, transport of wounded from train station to hospital and air raid duties. His VAD record notes that he was “held for duty all hours day and night if called upon.”
George and Nellie appear to have stayed in Keighley. In 1939 they still lived on Eelholme View Street with Sydney, a spring manufacturer and Harry, another son born in 1913 who worked as a motor lorry driver. Unfortunately I have been unable to decipher the last word where George’s occupation is written – ‘Railway passenger ……”
The 1939 Register
Nellie died in 1942 and George remarried in 1943 to a widow named Grace A. Gill.
George died in Keighley during the second quarter of 1954.
Sources:
England and Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
1881 England Census
1891 England Census
1901 England Census
1911 England Census
UK, Railway Employment Records, 1833-1956
West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1813-1935
1939 England and Wales Register
England and Wales, Civil registration Marriage Index, 1916-2008
England and Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
