George was the son of James & Lydia Rogers and on the 1891 census they were living at 31, Phoenix Street, Bristol, Gloucestershire in the Civil Parish of St Philip & St Jacob Out. Father James was a Furnace Man 29 who had been born in Ebbw Vale, South Wales. His wife Lydia 26 had been born in Bristol.  Their children were  James  8, George  4 and Emily  1 had all been born in Bristol.

By the 1901 census they had made the long journey to Connah’s Quay, Flintshire to work in the Ironworks. They were living at 4, 5, Court, Off High Street.   Father James 38 was an Ironworker and his wife Lydia was 36. James was no longer in the household. George 14 was an Ironworker. Emily was 12 and there was a little sister, Caroline, 6 who had been born in Bristol, Somersetshire, suggesting that the family had moved from Bristol after 1896.

The 1911 census finds George 24, a married man with children living at 14 stone Row, Connah’s Quay. His occupation was ‘an Iron Opener’. He had married, Annie Edwards in 1908 in Chester. By 1911 they had two children. Edith Lydia was 3, and Irene Caroline was 1.

George was a casualty of the Battle of the Somme*. He he has no known grave and he is remembered on a panel on the Thiepval Memorial

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme

UK soldiers who died in the Great War 1914 -19, accessible on www.ancestry.co.uk confirms the regimental information above and adds that he enlisted in Connah’s Quay.

George’s medal card also accessible on ancestry, records his medal details but does not tell us where his first theatre of war was, but that he entered it on 22nd August 1914.

George Thomas Rogers in the UK, Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 tells us that the sole Legatee was his widow Annie who was paid his War Gratuity of £14 on the 1st December 1919, but there was a Relief of Dr. Balance of £1. 5s 2d on the 18th July 1917.

George is mentioned in the book “Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 – 1918   Royal Welsh Fusiliers   Volume 28”