George E Chiddington

14353 Private George E. Chiddington served with the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, before joining 10th (Service) Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment, with Service No. 15603. 10th (Service) Battalion was formed at Bristol in September 1914 as part of Kitchener's New Army. On 8 August 1915 it was mobilised, landing in France to join 1st Brigade, 1st Division, and in late September was pitched into the three-week long Battle of Loos in September-October 1915. Between September 1915 and March 1916 10th (Service) Battalion sustained 309 men killed, nearly 50% of its fighting strength, most of them in the September battle. George was killed in action on 21 January 1916 and he is commemorated on the Loos Memorial (Panel 60 to 64). He may have been the target of a sniper shot, as no other soldier of the battalion died that month. He is also remembered on a plaque in St Giles' Church, Horspath, and in 10th Battalion Roll of Honour (Loos), published at the time.

Born in 1896 in Horspath, he was the second son of George Chiddington, labourer, born in 1852 in Oxford, and Selina Winney, born in 1863 in East Hanney, Berkshire. In 1901 and 1911 the family was living at Blenheim, Horspath. Two of his brothers, William and Clifford, also served, and returned. George had attended Wheatley Elementary school and gone on to work as a farm labourer.