Roll of Honour 2023

P AGE 44

W ORLD W AR O NE (1914 - 1918) INCLUDING THOSE WHO DIED LATER AS A RESULT OF THIS WAR

S T . E DWARD ’ S S CHOOL , O XFORD R OLL OF H ONOUR

Name GEORGE MAURICE GERALD GILLETT (Capt)

Set / House A

Lef SES 1901

Roll Number 848 Died 16:09:1916

Arrive SES 1894

Where DEAUVILLE WOOD, SOMME Serving with 6TH, LEICESTERSHIRE REGIMENT

Age 34

Buried North of Deauville Wood & East of Fleurs. Picardie, France Remembered

Thiepval Memorial, The Hinton Parva Great War Memorial, Wiltshire, The St. Edward’s School Chapel (Wooden Plaque) and The Cloisters Stone Memorial

Born in Compton, Surrey 1882, son of a clergyman. One brother and two cousins at SES. He was said to have had ‘a spotless record at the School, going from the Third Form to the Head of School and Captain of every game, George Gillett was in every way a type of the best that St. Edward’s aims to provide’ (Chronicle). In the Cricket XI 1898-1901 (Captain 1901), Rugby Football XV 1899-1900 (Captain in 1900), he was also Captain of Fives, and rowed Stroke for his Set’s First Boat in the Bumpers Races. He was also a prominent thespian and in the VIth Form. From 1902-12 he worked at the Bank of England, captaining their Cricket side for several years. He played Rugby football for Harlequins RFC. He also had a business partnership in a fishing line business. When war broke out he enlisted in the Public School Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers in December 1914, was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant with the Service Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment in February 1915. Promoted to Captain in March 1916. He took part in some of the major battles on the Western Front including Bazentine Ridge, Flers-Courcelette and Morval. He was killed on 16th September 1915 in ‘an advanced trench by the shock of a shell which burst very close and did not touch him’ (Chronicle), this was during the final stages of the Somme offensive. He was buried in the Deauville Wood area.