GEORGE SEAVERS
Although George and his two brothers were born in Southsea the family had only lived in Portsmouth since the mid 1890s. Their father was George E. Seavers and he was born at York in 1860 whilst their mother Mary E was born at Gosport in 1868. They were probably married in 1893.
George E Seavers presumably met Mary in Portsmouth but there is no evidence to suggest why he may have been there. The 1881 census shows him working as a footman in Brighton and living in his step-father's household. He is absent from the 1891 census. During the following decade he married Mary and fathered three boys, George (b. 1894), Albert (b. 1897) and Arthur (b. 1900). At the 1901 census he was working as a 'Billiard Marker' and the family were living at 6 The Friary on Lennox Road in Southsea.
The family were still at The Friary for the 1911 census but George E was not present as he had died in 1903.
Nothing is known of George's early life apart from his attendance at St. Jude's School. He would have been 19 years old at the outbreak of the Great War and may have volunteered as early as September 1914 when the 14th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment began enlistment. The regiment did not leave England for France until March 1916. George died less than four months later in July 1916.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) lists Private G Seavers (15481), Hampshire Regiment, died on 01/07/1916, age 21. Buried in the St. Vaast Post Military Cemetery (Grave Ref: III.K.9.). Son of George and Mary E. Seavers, of 31, Beatrice Rd., Southsea.
George Seavers is also remembered on the WW1 Cross at St. Jude's Church and on the Cenotaph. He is not listed in the 'National Roll of the Great War'.
Tim Backhouse
July 2014