Regiment: 125th Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery
Service No: 10366
Date & place of birth: Jan-March 1883 in Plaistow/Petworth, sussex
Date & place of death: 2 June 1915 (aged 32) near Ypres
Family background
George Rufus Ford was born in the Plaistow area in 1883 and his birth was registered at Petworth. His parents were named Middleton and Emily; his father was a sawyer on the Leconfield Estate. They lived in Leconfield Estate cottages, initially in Byworth and in 1911 in Grove Street. By 1901 George had two brothers and four sisters.
Military service
George joined the Army before the war, enlisting in Easebourne and in 1911 was a Bombardier in the 1st Depot, Royal Garrison Artillery. By 1915 he had been promoted to Sergeant in the 125th Heavy Battery of that regiment.
Death and commemoration
George Ford was killed in action near Ypres in June 1915. The main action of the Second Battle of Ypres (the only major German offensive on the Western Front in 1915) had concluded a week or so before, but hostilities (including bombing) were no doubt continuing. As part of an artillery battery, George would have been in a target area even after the main infantry fighting was over. He is buried in the Perth Cemetery (China Wall) in Ypres, Belgium.