Oswald Edgar George – Royal Army Ordnance Corps

Lieutenant Oswald Edgar George – Royal Army Ordnance Corps

Birth and Family Background

Oswald Edgar George was born in 1906 at Mumbles. He was the son of Levi Edgar George and Katherine Freer, who were married in 1903 at Portsmouth.

1911 Census

At the time of the 1911 Census, the George family were residing at 4 Westbourne Place, Mumbles. Levi Edgar George (33) was employed as a master mariner, while his wife Kathleen (35), born in Hampshire, undertook household duties. Their children were Oswald Edgar (5) and Francis Barnard (1).

1921 Census

Levi Edgar George died in 1919. By the time of the 1921 Census, the family had moved to 5 Westbourne Place, Mumbles.

The head of the household was Mary George (83), widowed. Also present were her daughter Martha (48), who undertook household duties; her daughter-in-law Kathleen (45), also widowed and undertaking household duties; and her grandson Oswald Edgar George (16). Oswald was employed as a consulting engineer’s clerk with H. K. Renson, Consulting Engineer, Swansea.

Marriage

Oswald Edgar George and Elsie Nicholls
marriage banns
St Margaret’s, Westminster

Oswald Edgar George and Elsie Nicholls
marriage certificate 
St Peter’s Church, Newton

Oswald Edgar George had his banns of marriage read at St Margaret’s, Westminster, London. He married Elsie Nicholls in 1932 at St Peter’s Church, Newton.

Military Service

Oswald Edgar George was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. The Corps played a vital role in the British Army, being responsible for the supply, storage, maintenance, and repair of weapons, ammunition, vehicles, and technical equipment.

During the early years of the Second World War, officers of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps were frequently required to travel overseas to support expanding operations, including postings to West Africa, the Middle East, and other overseas commands. Such journeys were commonly undertaken by sea aboard troopships or merchant vessels, often under hazardous wartime conditions.

Loss at Sea

In 1941, maritime travel for service personnel was extremely dangerous. German U-boats, naval mines, and aircraft were actively attacking Allied shipping in the Atlantic approaches and West African sea lanes, including routes serving the Gold Coast (modern Ghana), a key British colony and supply base.

On 5^th July 1941, Lieutenant Oswald Edgar George lost his life while at sea, almost certainly while travelling on operational duty. In common with many officers and men whose ships were sunk without survivors or whose bodies were not recovered, no specific vessel is recorded in surviving official documentation. His death was therefore recorded as lost at sea, a fate shared by many service personnel of non-combat corps whose duties nonetheless placed them in grave danger.

Commemoration

Oswald Edgar George
Brookwood 1939–1945 Memorial, Surrey
credit - findagrave

Lieutenant Oswald Edgar George has no known grave, and his name is commemorated on the Brookwood 1939–1945 Memorial, Surrey. The memorial honours members of the British and Commonwealth forces who died during the Second World War and whose burial places are unknown, many of whom were lost at sea while travelling to or from overseas service.