George Ratcliff (1895-1918)
Sunderland man served with 7th DLI died in Koblenz as prisoner, buried in Cologne
George Ratcliff (also spelt Ratcliffe in some sources), the son of Thomas Hutton and Margaret Ratcliff, was born in Deptford, Sunderland, Durham on 26 March 1895. He had three brothers and five sisters and lived in Sunderland all his life until he enlisted in the Durham Light Infantry at Sunderland, when working as an apprentice boiler maker.
Not a lot can be discovered about his military service, but he presumably enlisted some time after the outbreak of war and was posted to the 7th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry (DLI), as he arrived in France on 10 July 1915. A few months later the battalion began training as the Pioneer Battalion of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division. After the enemy’s attack on the Somme in March 1918 the members of the battalion were forced to fight as infantrymen again and during the fighting on the River Aisne George was reported missing. He was captured at Craonne on 27 May and sent to a prisoner of war camp (POW). Later in the year he contracted gastro-enteritis and on 16 September died in the Monastery Hospital at Koblenz. He was buried in the local cemetery but later re-interred in the Cologne Southern Cemetery.
International Red Cross, First World War prisoner of war database:
https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Details/86613/3/2/
Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, Cologne South Cemetery:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/34600/cologne-southern-cemetery/
Civil Parish: Sunderland
Birth date: 26-Mar-1895
Death date: 16-Sep-1918
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: 14 Peacock Street, Sunderland, Durham (1901 & 1911 censuses)
Employment: Apprentice boiler maker (1911 census)
Family: Father: Thomas Hutton Ratcliff
Mother: Margaret Ratcliff (nee Bainbridge)
Siblings: Louisa Wake, Elizabeth Hannah, Sarah Alice, William Davison, George Nightingale (died in infancy), Margaret, Dora & Thomas Ratcliff
Military service:
7th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry
Service nos.: 7/1733 & 275148
Private
Medal(s): 1914-1915 Star
British War Medal
Victory Medal
Memorial(s): Cologne Southern Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Grave Ref.: XIV.A.6
D.L.I. 1914-1918 Book of Remembrance, Durham Cathedral
Seaburn, Durham, T.A. Centre 7th D.L.I. 1914-1918 Roll of Honour
Holy Trinity Church, Sunderland, Durha,m 1914-1918 Book of Remembrance
Gender: Male
Contributed by John Edwards