Regiment: King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 17th Battalion, 39th Division,
Service No: C/3781
Date & place of birth: April-June 1889, Petworth
Date & place of death: 30 June 1916 (aged 27), Western Front
Rifleman George Henry Nevatt was the first Petworth man to die in the terrible summer of 1916 when some of the most attritional battles of the war were fought. No Petworth soldiers died between the end of January 1916 and 29 June 1916, then 16 between Rifleman Nevatt’s death and the end of the year.
Family background
George Nevatt was born and raised in Petworth, the son of George and Sarah Nevatt of 298 North Street. George Senior was a groom, and his son was also listed in the 1911 census as a “groom domestic”, still living at home, though 22 years old by then. It is likely he was employed by the Leconfield family or another wealthy local family with a London home as he enlisted in London. He had 2 brothers, Charles and Ernest, and 4 sisters, Jane, Margaret, Ethel and Mabel.
Military service
George enlisted at Cockspur Street, London into the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. In 1916 his battalion were engaged in the battles of Thiepval Ridge and Ancre on the Western Front.
Death and commemoration
Rifleman George Henry Nevatt died of wounds on 30 June 1916 and is buried in the Bethune Town Cemetery F.80, in Nord-Pas-de-Calais.