George Ernest WHITE, SERGEANT 856
* Born: November 1889 at Derby
* Son of: Henry and Emily White of Haughton-le-Skerne
* Local address: Haughton House, The Green, Haughton-le-Skerne
* Pre-war occupation: Engine Fitter in locomotive foundry
* Father’s occupation: Draughtsman
* Siblings: Three brother, two sisters, position in family 5
* Enlisted: 18 March 1909 at Darlington
* Regiment: 1st/5th Durham Light Infantry (DLI)
* Died: Killed in Action 25 May 1915
* Age: 25
* Buried: Sanctuary Wood Cemetery, Ypres Belgium
George Ernest White was born in 1889 in Derby to Henry Arthur and Emily Ann White. Henry Arthur White had married Emily Ann Price in 1877 in Bridgwater, Somerset. Henry and Emily had seven children but the 1911 census shows that they had lost two in childhood. In 1881 the family lived in Birmingham but in 1891 and 1911 they were situated in Derby. The 1911 census records them living at Haughton House in Haughton-le-Skerne. Henry was employed as a mechanical engineering draughtsman and although the censuses don’t show it, he probably worked in the railway industry as Derby was a centre of locomotive production like Darlington. In 1911 George Ernest White was a 21- year-old engineering fitter in the locomotive foundry at Robert Stephenson and Company’s Springfield Works. George’s elder sister Ada, aged 25 was a sorting clerk and telegraphist at the General Post Office.
George White’s service record fortunately exists and shows that he enlisted for the Territorial Force on 19 March 1909 at the age of 19 years and 5 months. He was 5ft 7in tall, with a 38½in chest expandable by 2½in After examination George was duly passed fit for the Territorial Force. He was appointed to 5/DLI with regimental number 856. George enlisted for four years but agreed in January 1913 to serve for a further two years. He was appointed Lance Corporal in May 1912 and full Corporal in December that year. Each year George attended two weeks training camp, these were held at Richmond, Haltwhistle and Scarborough. His battalion was embodied - that is, called on for full time service - on 5 August 1914, the day after war was declared, and George White carried his rank of corporal into full service. He was promoted to sergeant in September 1914.
The battalion trained at Hummersknott, Darlington and Northumberland before leaving for France on 16 April 1915. On arrival at Boulogne at dawn on 17 April, the men travelled on foot and by train to the village of Brielen, a few km from Ypres where - so close to the front line – the battalion found itself under fire. This was the start of the Second Battle of Ypres which lasted until 25 May, the day that Sergeant George White lost his life.
A more detailed description of the activities and movements of 5/DLI during the period from August 1914 until the start of the Second Battle of Ypres can be found in Allan Raine’s story.
It was during the early stages of this battle, on Monday 26 April that George White’s fellow Haughton boy, Allan Raine, was killed. George White would surely have known about this.
In May, the battalion moved into trenches in Sanctuary Wood, near Hooge, just outside Ypres, where the men came under fire once more. The Battalion War Diary for 23 May records:
"Germans attacked trench on N.E. side of Sanctuary Wood. Some Companies gassed and many casualties.
25 May:
Battalion less C Company relieved and returned to C rest camp near Brielen. C hung on to switch trench."
George White was a member of C Company and this was the day that he died.
"26 May:
C Coy stragglers return to rest camp."
The Battalion War Diary does not record how many men lost their lives in this action, although two officers were killed including Captain R W Pearson. Captain Pearson was from Darlington and the previous month had penned a letter to the parents of Allan Raine following his death on 26 April.
Sergeant George Ernest White was buried in Sanctuary Wood on 1 June 1915.
George White left a will which he had written on 22 April, a few weeks before his death. He left the whole of his property and effects to his father.
George White’s death was reported in the local newspaper under the caption
HOW SERGT G.E.WHITE MET HIS DEATH (along with a picture of him in uniform)
"News has been received at Haughton of the manner in which Sergt. G.E. White of the 5th D.L.I. met his death. Bob Bamlett, of Haughton-le-Skerne, who was an intimate friend of Sergt. G.E. White, refers to him in a letter he sent home to his parents, and describes the action in which Sergt. White was killed."
He wrote:-
"Tom (his elder brother) and I got into the trench, and there were other two men next to us both Haughton boys, Reg. Winn and George White. There was very heavy firing going on at the time. In the trenches George was just saying he had got a letter from a friend who wished to be remembered to them, when he was ordered to do something. He never hesitated; but got straight out of the trench.Immediately, he was shot through the head, dying instantly. Another man next to him was killed also. I tell you it knocked us up properly for the rest of the day. It was very hard luck, as we were relieved the same night.
George was not frightened to do his bit, no matter what it was he had to do. He would not set his men to do what he wouldn’t care to do himself, and he will be badly missed here.
Captain R Wilson, in informing Sergt. White’s parents of the sad occurrence said: “I regret very much the death of your son Sergt. G. White. He was killed near ……..on the night of the 24th and was buried there. We shall miss him very much here as he was always cheerful and willing and a very good Sergeant. Please accept my deepest sympathy.”
It may be recalled that Sergeant White for many years was a member of Haughton Cricket Club and in 1909 he won the bowling prize taking 24 wickets at a cost of 4.75 runs per wicket which was a very creditable performance. Later he became connected with the Railway Athletic Club for whom he was always a good scorer. He was also secretary of the Haughton Hockey Club for a considerable number of years."
Captain Wilson didn’t survive the war either. He was one of 10 officers from the original group of 31 who went to France who lost their lives. Captain Hugh Russell Wilson MC of 50 Langholm Crescent, Darlington and an ex-pupil of Queen Elizabeth Grammar School was killed in action at Becourt Wood on the Somme in September 1916. The Battalion War Diary records that his body was recovered ‘after much difficulty’ and he was buried in Becourt Military Cemetery the following evening. He left a widow, Grace, and two children under six years of age.
In 1919 George’s father Henry White completed the official form required by the War Office following the death of a serving soldier, confirming the names of next of kin.At that time Henry and his wife Emily still lived at Haughton House with their youngest daughter Ada Minnie. George’s elder brother Arthur worked for Messrs Richardson and Cruddas at an ironworks in Bombay. George’s sister Helen Jane had married and lived at Mansoura in Egypt. His third sister Edith lived in Derbyshire.
George White’s Medal Card shows that he was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal. These were sent to his father in 1920-21, more than five years after George’s death.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission records that Sergeant George Ernest White 856 1st/5th Battalion DLI is buried in Sanctuary Wood Cemetery. After the war he was commemorated on the War Memorial Cross in Haughton-le-Skerne, on the Brass Memorial Plaque in the church, on the Roll of Honour in Darlington Public Library, on the Brass Memorial Plaque erected in the entrance hall of Robert Stephenson and Company, Springfield Works (now in Darlington Head of Steam Museum), and in the Book of Remembrance to 5/DLI, St Thomas’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees.
George White is also commemorated on the family headstone in the churchyard at St Andrew’s Church, Haughton-le-Skerne, which is inscribed:
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
HENRY ARTHUR WHITE
DIED 9TH JAN 1930
AGED 79 YEARS
ALSO OF EMILY ANN
WIFE OF THE ABOVE
DIED 16TH MAY 1937
AGED 80 YEARS
ALSO GEORGE ERNEST WHITE
KILLED IN ACTION NEAR YPRES
25TH MAY 1915