Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthAugust 11, 1889
Place of BirthRugby, Warwickshire
CountryEngland
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMary Jane Winham, mother. Peterborough, England
Trade / CallingFireman
ReligionChurch of England
Service Details
Regimental Number439036
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion14th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentDecember 21, 1914
Age at Enlistment24
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Decorations and MedalsMilitary Medal
Death Details
Date of Death19620222
Age at Death71
Buried AtHillside Cemetery, Medicine Hat, Alberta
PlotC150F1

Lapworth, George Thomas

George Thomas Lapworth was born 11 August 1889 in Rugby, Warwickshire, England to George Lapworth and Mary Jane (West) Lapworth. He was baptized at St. Andrew’s Church in Rugby on 30 August 1889.

In the 1891 England Census, Mary Jane was listed as a widow ‘living on means’ with her son, George and two boarders (children). George Thomas continued to live with his mother and on the 1911 England Census was employed as an engine cleaner on the railway.  The next year he moved to Canada, arriving in Quebec City on 18 May 1912. He was on his way to Kenora, Ontario where he was successful in gaining employment on the railway as a fireman.

George enlisted with the 52nd battalion on 21 December 1914. Previous service of 4 years with the T.R.F.A. in Northamptonshire was noted on his attestation papers. He trained in Kenora until leaving for Port Arthur in June of 1915.   Just before he left Kenora, George married Eva May Moore (15 June 1915). The battalion embarked for England on 04 September 1915 from Montreal aboard the S. S. Missanabie. They arrived in England on the 13 September.   George was transferred to the 14th battalion and went to France with this unit in April of 1916. During an assault on the Kenora Trench in the battle of the Somme (29 September 1916) George received a shrapnel wound to his right hand. He was treated in France and returned to his unit on 8 November 1916. George served a total of 30 months in France and Belgium with the 14th battalion and earned a Military Medal. The family story about the Military Medal states that George was at the battle of Vimy Ridge.   Many young men displayed courage during the battle but there were only a few medals to be handed out. Apparently names were put in a draw and medals went to those whose names were chosen. George was one of them. In October of 1918 he was transferred to England ‘with a view to being granted a commission in the RAF’. He was posted to the Quebec Regimental Depot and then the 23rd Reserve Battalion when armistice was declared on 11 November 1918.   George returned to Canada on 24 December 1918 and received his formal discharged (due to demobilization) on 24 January 1919 in Winnipeg.

After WW1 George returned to Kenora. He and Eva had three children – Alexander George, Ted and Eleanor. Their marriage dissolved and George moved out to Medicine Hat, Alberta. He died there on 22 February 1962 and was buried there in Hillside Cemetery.

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Photographs of George and his gravemarker courtesy of Diane Lapworth.


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