BORN HULL 1897. ONLY CHILD OF ALFRED THOMAS & LOUISA ELLIS SHEA, OF 2, BOND STREET, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS). ENLISTED IN THE 3RD HULL PALS ON 02/10/1914. SERVED IN EGYPT. ARRIVED FRANCE, ON 08/03/1916. KILLED IN ACTION, AT SERRE, ON 13/11/1916, AGED 19.
HIS NAME IS RECORDED ON ST MARYS CHURCH, LOWGATE MEMORIAL. HIS FATHER ALFRED SERVED IN THE ROYAL GARRISON ARTILLERY.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE GEORGE AUGUSTUS SHEA 12/809. Born in July 1897 George was the eldest of two sons to Alfred and Louisa Shea of 2 Bond Street, Hull. He enlisted on 2nd October 1914 joining the 12th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, 3rd Hull Pals. He gave his age as 18 which was a lie, he was still 17 and not old enough to enlist, certainly not old enough for foreign service. His lie went undetected however and he served with the Pals in Egypt before arriving in France early in March 1916 and heading north to Armentieres and the stark realities of life in the trenches of the Western Front. George was killed in action at Beaumont Hamel on the Somme during the last desperate push to flatten out a dangerous salient in the British lines caused by the German’s refusing to give up positions in the ruins of the French village of Serre. The attack was a failure and cost many young lives, a fitting end to a disastrous campaign. George is buried in Euston Road Cemetery; he was 19 years old.
