Pte 57660 George Ernest Skevington

• Age: 29
• From: Eckington Yorks
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Wednesday 20th June 1917
• Commemorated at: Railway Dugout B.g. Zillebeke
  Panel Ref: Sp.Mem.F5

George Ernest was born in the March quarter of 1888 in Brough the son of Charles William and his wife Annie (née Moisley) who were married in the June quarter of 1884, the marriage registered in Great Ouseburn, York. 

The 1891 Census shows the family are living at Hawthorne Cottage, Elloughton Road, Elloughton with Brough. George is 3 years of age and is living with his parents and two siblings. His father, is 34 years of age, a rural postman born in Arlesey, Bedfordshire in 1857, whilst his mother is aged 29 and was born in Little Ouseburn, Yorkshire in 1862. His two siblings recorded in the household as: Edith M. aged 5 born at Little Ouseburn and Walter E. aged 2 born in Brough in 1889.

The family are still resident at Hawthorne Cottage, George is now 13 years of age and is living with both parents and his siblings Edith M. aged 15 and Walter E. aged 12. 

By the time of the 1911 Census the family are still living at Hawthorne Cottage. George is now 23 years of age and an assistant professional at a golf club in Elloughton. His parents are both resident and advise that they have been married for 26 years and have had eleven children of whom eight have survived. George's siblings living in the household are recorded as; Edith aged 25, Rupert aged 17 and a shop assistant, Millicent aged 16, Freda aged 14 and Alice aged 12. 

The Battalion diary records that on 20th June 1917 they were:

In huts, training and supplying cable trench working parties:   

On 20^th June 1917 Pte G. E. Skevington was recorded in the Battalion diary as killed in action, he was 24 years of age. 

An indication into how George was killed comes in a report on the death of a fellow Pal in the 18th Battalion on the same day:

St Helens Examiner 07th July 1917

PRIVATE S. PARKER

Killed Whilst Out On A Working Party

Private Samuel Parker of the King's Liverpool Regiment was killed in action on the 20th of June. His wife who lives at 18 Gandy Street, Warrington received the first intimation in a letter from the Chaplain of the Battalion last week, in which he explained that Private Parker was out with a working party when a shell burst and killed him instantly. 

George now rests at Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, Zillebeke, Belgium.

Railway Dugouts Burial Ground is 2 Km west of Zillebeke village, where the railway runs on an embankment overlooking a small farmstead, which was known to the troops as Transport Farm.  Burials began there in April 1915 and continued until the Armistice, especially in 1916 and 1917, when Advanced Dressing Stations were located in the dugouts and the farm.  The names "Railway Dugouts" and "Transport Farm" were both used for the cemetery.  In the summer of 1917 a considerable number were obliterated by shell fire before they could be marked.  

At the time of the Armistice, more than 1,700 graves in the cemetery were known and marked. Other graves were then brought in from the battlefields and small cemeteries in the vicinity, and a number of the known graves destroyed by artillery fire were specially commemorated. The latter were mainly in the present Plots IV and VII.

The cemetery now contains 2,459 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 430 of the burials are unidentified and 261 casualties are represented by special memorials. Other special memorials record the names of 72 casualties buried in Valley Cottages and Transport Farm Annexe Cemeteries whose graves were destroyed in later fighting.

George's grave was one such as the inscription on his headstone reads:

“THEIR GLORY SHALL NOT BE BLOTTED OUT”

This phrase was decided upon by Rudyard Kipling and is used when the burial place of a soldier is not known. It is a biblical reference from Ecclesiasticus 44:13 which reads in full as: "Their seed shall remain forever, and their glory shall not be blotted out". 

The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

The family suffered a further loss when George's brother, 2^nd Lt. William Percy Skevington, 11^th Bn East Yorkshire Regiment, also fell, on 08th September 1918. He lies in Trois Arbres Cemetery, Steenwerck, Nord, France where his headstone bears the epitaph:

"HE DID HIS DUTY"

In the Hull Daily Mail on 18th Oct 1918 the obituary to his brother Percy notes-

“His eldest brother George, who was a well-known golf professional in pre-war days, was killed in action in June 1917. His three remaining brothers are serving in the army.”

Hull Daily Mail 20th June 1919

SKEVINGTON - In loving memory of my dear brother, George Ernest Skevington, killed in action in France.

Sadly missed - Alec (E.E.F.)

Hull Daily Mail 8th Sept 1919

SKEVINGTON - In proud and loving memory of Lieut. Percy Skevington of Brough, Yorks., late "Hull Commercials", killed at Soyor Farm, Ploergsteert France, September 8th 1918.

Both brothers are commemorated on the following Memorials:

Brough with Elloughton and Welton War Memorial

Kingston Upon Hull War Memorial.
 
Their father Charles William died on 26th September 1937, aged 83, whilst their mother Annie died on 07th February 1938, aged 76. Both George and Percy are named on their parents headstone in St Mary's Churchyard, Beverley. 

The photograph of George Ernest is from the website Lives of the Great War.

We currently have no further information on George Ernest Skevington, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.