Brazier G. E. Sapper. R.E.

George Ernest Brazier was born at Griffiths Green, Claverley, in 1886. He was baptised at Claverley Parish Church on 11th March 1886. His parents were Edmund Brazier, a sawyer, and his wife, Harriett. George served an apprenticeship as a carpenter. In 1911 he was still single and living at home and working as a carpenter. For some time he worked at Dudmaston before moving to Apley as Head Estate Carpenter.

George volunteered for the army in June, 1915. He was accepted into the Royal Engineers as a skilled carpenter. After a period at the Engineers Training Centre at Newark, George went to France on 31st December, 1915 and was posted to the 129th Field Company, Royal Engineers, part of the 24th Division.. He died from gas poisoning on 1st May, 1916 and is buried in Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension, Nord.

In the early morning of April 30, [1916] there was a strong attack by the Germans at Wulverghem, which was the village to the west of Messines, to which our line had been shifted after the attack of November 2, 1914. There is no doubt that all this bustling upon the part of the Germans was partly for the purpose of holding us to our ground while they dealt with the French at Verdun, and partly to provoke a premature offensive, since they well knew that some great movement was in contemplation. As a matter of fact, all the attacks, including the final severe one upon the Canadian lines, were dealt with by local defenders and had no strategic effect at all. In the case of the Wulverghem attack it was preceded by an emission of gas of such intensity that it produced much sickness as far off as Bailleul, at least six miles to the west. Horses in the distant horse lines fell senseless under the noxious vapour. It came on with such rapidity that about a hundred men of the Twenty-fourth Division were overcome before they could get on their helmets. The rest were armed against it, and repelled the subsequent infantry attacks carried out by numerous small bodies of exploring infantry, without any difficulty. The whole casualties of the Fifth Corps, whose front was attacked, amounted to 400, half by gas and half by the shells. [Conan-Doyle, A History of the Great War. Vol III.]

Sapper George Brazier, 103552, Royal Engineers, was awarded the Victory and British Medals.