George William Leggett (1894-1917)
Norfolk man served with 1st/9th DLI
George William Leggett was born at Great Yarmouth in Norfolk in 1894. His mother was Ellen Leggett but his father’s name is not known. The 1901 census records that the seven-year-old George was still living in Great Yarmouth with his mother. They were in the household of her mother, Mary Leggett, who was running a lodging house.
Mary died in 1909 and by 1911, George and Ellen were living with her sister and brother-in-law, Mary and Edward Kingdon, in St Cuthbert’s Parish, Thetford. Seventeen-year-old George was an errand boy.
One record says that George enlisted at Norwich into the Norfolk Regiment but he was with the Durham Light Infantry, 1st/9th Battalion when he was killed at the Battle of Arras on 23 April 1917. His mother had died in 1912, when he was 18, so it was to his Aunt Mary that he left his back pay and War Gratuity.
George William is commemorated on Bay 8 of the Arras Memorial and on the Roll of Honour in St Cuthbert’s Church,Thetford.
Sources: Commonwealth War Graves Commission web site; National Archives: Medal Card and Medal Index record of G W Leggett; ancestry.co.uk Military Collection and Censuses 1901 and 1911; birth,
Birth date: 1894
Death date: 23-Apr-1917
Armed force/civilian: Army
Military service:
Private
1st/9th Battalion Durham Light Infentry
Gender: Male
Contributed by Tony W, Barnstaple
