COTHER George

George was born in Campden in 1880, one of at least five children of George and Elizabeth.  His father had been born in Bourton-on-the-Hill, one of an extended family of that name in the village which provided a number of soldiers in the Great War.  In 1881 or 1882 the family moved to Blockley, where they would remain except for a period in Bourton around 1901.

George was baptised in Blockley in 1882 and was at home in the village, a schoolboy, in 1891.  Before 1901 he had enlisted in the army, and that year was in South Africa as a private soldier with the 2nd Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment, as part of the Boer War forces.  He saw service in Cape Colony, Orange Free State and the Transvaal.  His service number, 5812, would be valid for enlistment in 1914.

The norm for his type of engagement would seem to be enlistment with the colours for a period of perhaps around seven years, followed by a period in the Reserve, and this is likely to have been so in George’s case.  In April 1911 he was home again, a civilian, at his parents’ house in Blockley, unmarried, and like his father, working as a road labourer.  Later that year he married, and a daughter was born, and a son in 1912.

With the outbreak of war in 1914 he will have been recalled to the colours, and was indeed posted to the Western Front in September of that year, some six weeks after the declaration of war.  He was with the 1st Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment, and will have been one of the Old Contemptibles, reflected in the award of the 1914 Star and clasp.  He was killed in action in August 1916.

George’s brother Joseph also served in the army during the Great War.  He was born in Blockley in 1888 and was at home there in 1891 and at Bourton-on-the-Hill in 1901, working as an agricultural labourer on the latter date.  In 1905 he followed his elder brother George by enlisting in the Gloucestershire Regiment, service number 7899, and was with them in 1911, a private at barracks in Portsmouth.  With the outbreak of war in August 1914 he was deployed with his regiment to the Western Front but in May the following year he was wounded severely enough to leave the service.  He returned home and on 27th December 1915 was married in Blockley.  His bride, Elsie May Taylor, lived in Goring-on-Thames, near Wallingford in Oxfordshire; the venue of the wedding was perhaps unexpected as weddings usually took place in the bride’s parish church.

His post-war address was seemingly unknown to the military authorities.  There is a note on his entry in the regimental list of medal-holders that his medals were returned, apparently in the context of failure to deliver.

Background Details for George Cother/Cothier:
Birth registered as George William Cothier in the June Quarter 1880 under the Shipston Registration District
Census 3rd April 1881, George Cothier at home in Campden, age 1, born Campden
Blockley Parish Registers: 30th July 1882, baptism of George and younger sister Eliza (born Blockley 1882)
Census 5th April 1891, George Cother at home in Blockley, age 11, at school, born Blockley
1901, serving soldier with the Gloucestershire Regiment in South Africa
Census 2nd April 1911, at home with parents in High Street, Blockley, George Cother, age 31, single, a road labourer, born Campden
Blockley Parish Registers: 22nd July 1911 George Cother married Sarah Ann Peachey
1911, birth of daughter Mary Elizabeth Cother registered in the December Quarter 1911 under the Shipston Registration District
Blockley Parish Registers: 31st March 1912 baptism of Mary Elizabeth Cother
1912, birth of son George H. Cother registered in the December Quarter 1912 under the Shipston Registration District

1901 in South Africa, (Boer War 1898-1901)
Is listed among those of the 2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment entitled to the South Africa medal and clasps, under the Army Order granting the medal, issued 1st April 1901:
G Cother, private, number 5812, Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal medals/clasps, Certified on 1 November 1901 at Blomfontein by R F Lindsell, Lt Col, Cmdg 2nd Gloucester Regt.

Medal Index Card (World War 1):
George Cother, 1 Gloucs Regt, Private, number 5812.  Awarded the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the 1914 Star with clasp.  Entered the theatre of war in France on 20th September 1914, K[illed] in A[ction] 23/8/16

George Cother has no known grave, the photograph available shows his name on Thiepval Memorial.