Private George Edwin Ellison (10 August 1878 – 11 November 1918) was the last British soldier to be killed in action during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

. He died at 09:30 am (90 minutes before the armistice came into effect), shot by a sniper while on a patrol in woodland on the outskirts of

Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. ...

, Belgium.

Biography

Ellison was born in York and later lived in

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

, England. He first joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

as a regular soldier in 1902 – but had left by 1912, by which time he had become a coal miner, and when he married Hannah Maria Burgan in Nottingham. Sometime just before the outbreak of war he was recalled to the army, joining the

5th Royal Irish Lancers The 5th Royal Irish Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It saw service for three centuries, including the First World War. It amalgamated with the 16th The Queen's Lancers to become the 16th/5th Lancers in 1922. History Early w ...

and serving in the army from the very start of the war. He fought in the

Battle of Mons A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and fo ...

in 1914, and several other battles including the

Battle of Ypres The Battle of Ypres was a series of engagements during the First World War, near the Belgian city of Ypres, between the German and the Allied armies (Belgian, French, British Expeditionary Force and Canadian Expeditionary Force). During the five e ...

Battle of Armentières The Battle of Armentières (also Battle of Lille) was fought by German and Franco-British forces in northern France in October 1914, during reciprocal attempts by the armies to envelop the northern flank of their opponent, which has been called ...

Battle of La Bassée The Battle of La Bassée was fought by German and Franco-British forces in northern France in October 1914, during reciprocal attempts by the contending armies to envelop the northern flank of their opponent, which has been called the Race to th ...

, Battle of Lens,

Battle of Loos The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units. Th ...

, and Battle of Cambrai on the Western Front. Ellison, aged 40 at the time of his death, is buried in the St Symphorien Military Cemetery, just southeast of

. Coincidentally, and in large part due to Mons being lost in the very opening stages of the war and regained at the very end (from the British perspective), his grave faces that of

John Parr John Stephen Parr (born 18 November 1952) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, best known for his 1985 single "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)", charting at number one in the US and number six in the UK, and for his 1984 US number- ...

, the first British soldier killed during the Great War, and just a few metres away from George Lawrence Price, the Canadian soldier who was also felled near Mons at 10:58am, and was the last British Empire soldier killed in the Great War. He was survived by Hannah and a son, James Cornelius (just five days short of his fifth birthday when his father was killed) – living in Richmond Hill in east Leeds, as were Ellison's parents. The family only learnt of his death just before Christmas, more than a month after the war had ended. Ellison's only brother Frederick was also killed during the war, in 1917.

Legacy

In recent times, Ellison's story was featured in a 2008 BBC 'Timewatch' documentary with Michael Palin, in conjunction with his granddaughters. In 2018, he and John Parr became the inspiration behind a poem, "Goodnight Kiss", by writer Philip Parker – written as part of a project in conjunction with the

Imperial War Museums Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

. In November 2018 (the centenary of his death),

Leeds Civic Trust Leeds Civic Trust is a voluntary organisation and registered charity established in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England in 1965. Affiliated to the national charity Civic Voice, its stated purpose is "to stimulate public interest in and care for the b ...

and partners unveiled a memorial plaque to him at

Leeds railway station Leeds railway station (also known as Leeds City railway station) is the mainline railway station serving the city centre of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is the fourth-busiest railway station in the UK outside London (as of March 2020). ...

, paid for via a public crowdfunding campaign. The Civic Trust's plaques are usually blue, but Ellison's is olive green to symbolise the uniform of the soldiers. The unveiling event was attended by his two granddaughters and other family members. A memorial mock newspaper was created and circulated at the event, marking Ellison's life and the story of the war as experienced by regular people in Leeds. Following the unveiling of the plaque, Leeds artist Suman Kaur heard Ellison's story, and created and circulated a 'remastered' charcoal portrait of him based on the only known photo of him.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellison, George Edwin 1878 births 1918 deaths British military personnel killed in World War I British Army personnel of World War I 5th Royal Irish Lancers soldiers Leeds Blue Plaques Military personnel from York Burials at St Symphorien Military Cemetery

Biography

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading

External links