GEORGE WHEATLEY
Lance Corporal, G/8, 6th Battalion, Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)
Killed in Action, 3 May 1917, near Arras, France, aged 32
No known grave. Listed on the Arras Memorial: Bay 7
George Wheatley
Lance Corporal George Wheatley G/8, 6th Battalion, Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), was born in Hartfield in 1888. He lived in Hartfield and enlisted in Maidstone. He was the son of George (b.1856) and Ellen (née Everest) (b.1866) Wheatley. His pre-war occupation was in the employ of Nelson Miles as a farm labourer and he was listed as living at Stairs Farm, Hartfield in the 1911 census. The family lived at Newton's Hill in Hartfield. He had two sisters, Lizzie and Caroline. Both his sisters were servants at separate addresses in Tunbridge Wells in 1911. His father was a platelayer on the railway.
His younger brother, William James Wheatley, was born in Hartfield in 1893. He died of wounds to the head on 7 April 1915 while in hospital at Boulogne, Pas de Calais, France. He was aged 23 and is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery. He was previously a labourer on a farm.
The 6th Battalion of the Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) was formed at Maidstone on 14 August 1914 as part of K1 (Kitchener's Army) and came under command of 37th Brigade in 12th (Eastern) Division. The battalion moved initially to Colchester and on to Purfleet in September 1914 before going to billets in Hythe in December. It moved to Aldershot in February 1915. On 1 June 2015 they landed in Boulogne.
The battles George Wheatley may have been involved in included, during 1915, the Battle of Loos, during 1916, the battles of Albert, Pozières, and Le Transloy, and during 1917 the First Battle of the Scarpe, the Battle of Arleux, and the Third Battle of the Scarpe.
George left £8 15s. 6d. in his will to his mother.
He is listed on the war memorial in Hartfield.
Carol O'Driscoll
3 March 2017
Updated 5 May 2020