BORN HULL 1896. SON OF JOHN W. DOWNS & HARRIET A DOWNS & 4 CHILDREN, OF 1 ELDON GROVE, GODDARD AVENUE. HULL (HDM ADDRESS 14/05/1918). THE 1911 CENSUS SHOWS THE FAMILY LIVING AT 28 EXCHANGE STREET, HULL & GEORGE WAS A JOINER’S APPRENTICE. HIS FATHER WAS ALSO A JOINER. HE ENLISTED IN SEPT 1914. SERVED WITH THE 2ND HULL PALS BATTALION. AWARDED THE MILITARY MEDAL (MM) FOR BRAVERY. KILLED IN ACTION ON 23/04/1918, AGED 22. GEORGE DOWNS MM WAS LISTED ON KINGS HALL CHURCH ROH, SYMONST STREET, HULL.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE GEORGE DOWNS MM 11/7115. Alas, for a man brave enough to have been awarded the Military Medal ON 27/3/18, I have come up against multiple name syndrome. George was born in Hull and enlisted at City Hall on Tuesday 8th September 1914 joining the 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Tradesmen’, 2nd Hull Pals. Injury and illness notwithstanding, he would have served in Egypt and on the Somme, he would have made it through the bloodbath at Oppy Wood and survived those first deadly weeks of the German Spring Offensive. George was killed in action on 23rd April 1918. The Battalion War Diary says the moon was very bright that night and German bombing parties were out in force wreaking havoc in the transport lines. Perhaps George was caught up in that. We’ll never know. His body was never recovered and George Downs MM is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial, Hainaut, Belgium.
From the Hull Daily Mail, Saturday 22 June 1918 – MILITARY MEDAL: DECEASED SOLDIER Official news has been received by his parents at 1. Eldon-grove. Goddard-avenue, Hull that Private George Down (11/7115). East Yorks. Regt. who was killed on the 23rd of April, 1918, was awarded the Military Medal on March 27th, 1918 for gallantry in action. (found on www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
