BORN GRIMSBY 1893. ORIGINAL HULL PAL. SON OF ELIZABETH & THE LATE GEORGE OAKES. KILLED IN ACTION. AWARDED TH MILITARY MEDAL (HDM 13/09/1918)
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE GEORGE OAKES 11/874. Born in Grimsby on 26th January 1893, George was the youngest of four children to George and Ellen Oakes of 123 Porter Street, Hull. Educated at Barcroft Street School, he was employed by the Ellerman-Wilson Steamship Line, but queued outside Hull City Hall to “do his bit” for King and Country, joining the 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Tradesmen’, 2nd Hull Pals in the second week of September 1914. A veteran of Egypt, the Somme and Oppy Wood George was awarded the Military Medal in November, 1917 “For conspicuous bravery in the field, carrying the wounded under heavy shell-fire”. He was killed in action during the German Spring Offensive on 27th March 1918 and it seems his bravery stayed with him right to the bitter end, his Commanding Officer wrote of him: “On the day he met his death his conduct was magnificent, having himself killed several of the enemy and taken many prisoners.”
George Oakes died in a ditch near Ayette and has no known grave. His name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial; he was 25 years old. His mother collected George’s Military Medal from the Hull Guildhall, at a presentation held on the 14th September 1918. He is remembered on the family grave at Hull’s Chanterlands Avenue Cenetery.
