George, born 27 August 1897 at 2 Barry’s Walk, Cork was the first of Mary B. (O’/Callaghan) and George DAVIS’s sons to survive infancy.
George left Ireland aged about 15, according to his grandsons. This would have likely been after his father George’s death. He went to south Wales and into mining.
Known as “Long George” for his height, about six foot one, George may have claimed he was older than he was when he joined the Irish Guards as a Private to serve in the First World War. [1]
George, service number 7880, served in France. Grandsons recount that George was buried alive a few times from shelling.[2] He received a gunshot wound to his right thigh and was discharged injured on 19th October 1917. George was considered to have a degree of disablement of 40% in November 1919, but this had reduced to 30% in December 1921. He was entitled to a weekly pension for life.
George received the Victory Medal and British War medal for his service.
George married Beatrice Hollow in the September quarter 1920 in the district of Swansea, in Glamorganshire, Wales. I understand George met Beatrice while recuperating from his war injury.
They had the following children:
The following excerpt from the 1939 register shows members of George’s family at Llwyndu Cottages, Carmarthen, Betws, Ammanford. Oldest daughter Madge was working, and Beatrice was at school. Children Veronica and George were redacted as they were still alive when this record was released. We can see George was doing heavy work as a collier labourer on the surface – loading trucks.
Grandsons described George as a quiet, gentle man who never lost his temper. He had a big capacity for Guinness. Despite living his adult life in Wales George kept his accent and had a strong Irish identity. He made visits home to Cork, as seen in the photo above. George last went back to Cork in 1971 with his eldest grandson, four years before his death.
Death
George, the oldest of the Davis brothers who survived infancy, was the last of the brothers to die on 15 November 1975, in Carmarthen. Cause of death was bronchopneumonia following emphysema and cerebral haemorrhage. (He had suffered from blood noses.)
George is buried at St David’s, Betws Church, near Ammanford.
[1] George gave his date of birth as a year earlier. My aunt Maura told the story that George was believed to have used his deceased older brother George Leo’s documents to join the army. This seems unlikely but it does seem George claimed to be older than he was in order to enlist.
[2] It is my intention to source further military records for George and update this post when I have secured them.[3] Veronica had one green and one brown eye. She lost her sight in later life. Loved dancing. Educated in Cork for a period, staying at Wolfe Tone St. with her father’s family. My mother recalled Veronica visiting her HYLAND cousins in Thurles: Veronica … came and stayed with us for a holiday one summer. We had all the boys of the neighbourhood around our house cos she was different you know, and her accent and all that. She was lively, a go getter that’s how I remember her.
In Search of Thomas Davis 