British War Medal 1914-1918, 2nd Corporal George Alfred Townsend, Signal Company, Royal Engineers

British War Medal 1914-1918, 2nd Corporal George Alfred Townsend, Signal Company, Royal Engineers

Born on the 8th of January 1880 in East Dulwich, London. He married Florence Mary Coe on the 12th of May, 1903 and had two daughters: Helen Beatrice and Florence May in 1903 and 1906 respectively. Before the war, he worked as a Telegrapher for the General Post Office before enlisting on the 9th of November 1915.

He joined the Army Signal Company, Royal Engineers, and worked in the Telegraph Office until he was transferred to Mesopotamia on the 25th of April 1916. He disembarked in Basra, modern-day Iraq, on the 1st of June, 1916. He was promoted to Lance Corporal (Unpaid) on 11 October 1916 in Margil (Basrah) and later appointed a paid Lance Corporal in an “Arab Village” on 1 November 1916.

Granted leave to India, Townsend left the Corps Army Signal Company in Baghdad on the 22nd of April, 1917 and departed Mesopotamia via Basra on the 3rd of May, 1917. He returned from Bombay (now Mumbai), India to rejoin the company on the 7th of July, 1917. His pay was increased to “superior rate” (1/8 per diem) from the 18th of November, 1917, while serving in Baghdad. He went on leave again, this time to England, leaving Baghdad on the 29th of September 1918 and departing Mesopotamia via Basra on the 17th of October, 1918 for one month, although there is no evidence of his returning to the Mesopotamian Front as the Armistice of Mudros, and therefore the conclusion of fighting in the former Ottoman Empire, ended on the 30th of October 1918.

On the 8th of December 1918, he was appointed to 2nd Corporal, backdated to the 10th of July 1918. He continued to serve in the Royal Engineers, being reprimanded for missing a morning parade on the 18th of January, 1919. He later changed his surname to Ripley and worked as an Overseer for the London Telecommunication Region for the General Post Office until he retired in 1940, age of 60. He died 24th of May, 1948, age 68, in Chichester, Sussex

Impressed

77440 2. CPL. G. A. TOWNSEND. R.E.

Condition

Very good