Born 12th February 1893 – Died 29th October 1917
Frederick 1st Bn. Hertfordshire Regiment
George Thomas Spriggs, the fourth of five sons of William and Elizabeth, née Hewson, Spriggs was born on the 12th February 1893 in Lemsford and baptised on the 9th April 1893 at St. John's church, Lemsford. He attended Lemsford School from March 1897 to November 1906 and left to work as a horseman on a local farm.
Private 266609 George Spriggs enlisted at Hertford giving his address as Wheathampstead and joined the 1st Battalion of the Hertfordshire Regiment. The battalion was involved in the second Battle of Passchendaele, the main aim of which was to capture the higher ground of the Passchendaele Ridge for its strategic importance and also to provide drier winter quarters for the troops. The battle commenced on the the 26th October and lasted until the 6th November 1917 when Canadian troops finally captured what was left of the village of Passchendaele. The Battalion War Diary gives the number of casualties sustained from the 28th October to the 31st October as 6 killed, 1 died of wounds, 1 of gas poisoning, 21 wounded and 9 gassed. George died on the 29th October 1917 aged 24.
He is buried in the Zantvoorde British Cemetery, Zonnebeke,West-Vlaanderen, Belgium reference III E 25. Zonnebeke is a town 8 km south east of Ieper (Ypres) Frederick, his younger brother, was killed on the 11th July 1916 and is buried in the Serre Road Cemetery No. 2. Attended St Johns School March 8th 1897 to November 16 1906
| LEMSFORD WAR MEMORIAL 1914 - 1918 |
| TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR |
Commonwealth War Graves
Lest We Forget
The Battalion War Diary gives the number of casualties sustained from the 28th October to the 31st October as 6 killed, 1 died of wounds, 1 of gas poisoning, 21 wounded and 9 gassed. George died on the 29th October 1917 aged 24. He is buried in the Zantvoorde British Cemetery, Zonnebeke,West-Vlaanderen, Belgium reference III E 25. Zonnebeke is a town 8 km south east of Ieper (Ypres)
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Memories from the people of Lemsford Parish – letters from the Front and home and much, much more
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From the Bishop's Hatfield Parish Magazine 1914 to 1918, Church- Social - War Records
Servicemen of Lemsford
War records from 98 men who went to war. We show their memories images and why we should never forget them.
5 Facts the Great War
Battles of WW1
Battle of the Somme
1 July - 13 November 1916The British suffered around 420,000 casualties, the French 195,000 and the Germans around 650,000. Only in the sense of relieving the French at Verdun can the British have claimed any measure of success.
Battle of Passchendaele
31 July - 6 November 1917Passchendaele village lay barely five miles beyond the starting point of his offensive. Having prophesied a decisive success, it had taken over three months, 325,000 Allied and 260,000 German casualties
The First Battle of Ypres, 1914
October 19 to November 22, 1914First Battle of Ypres saw the BEF sustain 7,960 killed, 29,562 wounded, and 17,873 missing, while the French incurred between 50,000 and 85,000 casualties of all types. To the north, the Belgians took 21,562 casualties