MACKIE George Alexander

Educated at Worcester Royal Grammar School.

George Mackie was the only son of George and Mary Mackie. He was born in Salford and had been a chorister at St Helen’s Church as well as a member of St Martins Athletic Club. Prior to enlisting he worked in the drawing office of Heenan and Froude. His war diary survives, ending abruptly with his death in April 1916 and is held at Worcestershire Archives. He enlisted in the Worcestershire Regiment in May 1914. In February 1916 the battalions of the 1/7th and 1/8th Worcesters took over a line of trenches described as deep, gloomy and rat infested, opposite Serre on the Somme. The battalions relieved each other in those trenches through until the beginning of April 1916, being billeted in Colencamps and Coucelles when not in the trenches. Alternate spells of frost and thaw made life in the trenches miserable, while heavy falls of snow hampered all work. The enemy’s shells and rifle grenades caused heavier losses than during previous months, George Mackie died of wounds received during one such attack.

Sources for additional information: In Dedication to a Future World by Mark Rogers, 1999. The Worcestershire Regiment in the Great War by Captain H. FitzM. Stacke of the Regiment.

A photograph of Corporal G.A. Mackie of Worcester can be found in Berrow’s Worcester Journal Supplement, Saturday 15th April 1916, available at Worcestershire Archives.