George Nixon Dent (1894-1918)
Staindrop man served in the Grenadier Guards remembered on the Staindrop memorial
Born in Staindrop in 1894, George Nixon Dent was the youngest child of John and Phyllis Dent. John and Phyllis had married in 1875 in Teesdale and went on to have a total of eight children. Two of these children however did not survive infancy. By 1901 the family lived in a rural area near Copley. John Watson worked as both a coal miner and a farmer but died on 15 October 1908 when George would have been 14.
At the time of the 1911 census, the family are still living in Copley, with George’s mother now the head of the household. She is now described as a farmer along with her daughter Elizabeth and son Fred. George’s older brother John was working in the mines as a putter. George is listed as a butcher’s apprentice.
George married Sarah Ann Tallentire in 1913 and in the same year the couple had a daughter, Phyllis Vera Dent. Sarah died in 1916 and it is unclear what happened to their daughter Phyllis who would have only been three years old. Interestingly, there is no mention of Phyllis on George’s probate. Instead his estate is given to his brother Fred and a Thomas Henry Williamson, a colliery overman. Phyllis does appear on the 1939 register as a trained nurse.
George enlisted into the army at Barnard Castle, although it is not known when this was, it will have been after 1915 as he does not have the 1915 Star. He joined the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards as a private with the service number 27641. George was killed in action in France on 27 September 1918. He is buried at Sanders Keep Military Cemetery, Graincourt-Les-Havrincourt, and remembered locally on memorials in his home village of Staindrop.
After the war, in 1919, the King commanded the rank of Private was changed to Guardsman in recognition of the Regiment’s efforts during the War.
There is further information about George both on the Bowes Website and on ancestry family tree profiles.
https://www.thebowesmuseumww1.org.uk/person/1228-dent-g-n/
Civil Parish: Lynesack and Softley
Birth date: 1894
Death date: 27-Sep-1918
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: Lingey Steel, Copley, Butterknowle ( 1901 Census, 1911 Census, Address at time of death)
Employment: Butcher’s Apprentice (1911 Census)
Family: Parents: John W Dent, Phyllis Dent nee Nixon
Siblings: Joseph W Dent, Elizabeth Dent, Mary Jane Dent, Fred Dent, John Watson Dent,
Wife: Sarah Ann Dent nee Tallentire
Daughter: Phyllis Vera Dent
Military service:
1st, 4th Battalions Grenadier Guards
Private (Guardsman)
Service Number 27641
Medal(s): Victory Medal
British War Medal
Memorial(s): Plaque 1914-18 St Mary’s Church, Staindrop
Book of Remembrance 1914-18 St. Mary’s Church, Staindrop
Gender: Male
Contributed by StaindropWW1, Staindrop
