Centenary ceremony to honour a hero
A graveside ceremony is being held in Telford on November 26 to mark the centenary of the death of a Shropshire soldier who gave his life in the Great War.
The event at St Mary's Church yard at Ketley is part of a continuing six-year project by Oakengates & District Royal British Legion to mark the centenaries of the deaths of the fallen of the Great War who are buried locally.
The commemoration in honour of Private George Meredith of the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards, is the only such ceremony this year - there will be nine next year - and he is the only one of the 22 who are buried locally who fought at Passchendaele.
Moira Wallace, branch secretary of the legion, has managed to trace a relative from Clitheroe, Lancashire, who will be attending with his wife.
Muster at the graveside is between noon and 12.15. In attendance will be standard bearers from Oakengates & District Royal British Legion and Donnington Army Cadet Force, as well as Councillor Hilda Rhodes, Mayor of Oakengates, and Stephen Reynolds, Mayor of Telford.
The relative attending is Graham Ellis, a cousin twice removed.
George Meredith was born in Dawley on February 11, 1893. His father was a coal miner, and the family lived in Old Park. George became an apprentice grocer, but when his father Thomas died in 1913 he became the household's breadwinner, and there is anecdotal evidence that he may have joined the police force, becoming a member of Shropshire Constabulary, which would have seen him well placed to join a Guards regiment.
He enlisted in Shrewsbury and was sent to France in 1915. He was wounded in action at Passchendaele. He was brought back to a London hospital where he died on his wounds on November 26, 1917.
He is buried in a Commonwealth War Graves Commission grave at St Mary's churchyard, Ketley.
