Pte 50636 George Alfred Salthouse

• Age: 33
• From: Out Rawcliffe, Lancs
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 20th Btn
• K.I.A Friday 3rd August 1917
• Commemorated at: Hooge Crater Cem, Zillebeke
  Panel Ref: II.D.2

George Alfred Salthouse was born in the March quarter of 1884 in Out Rawcliffe, Lancashire, the son of Elizabeth Salthouse.   

The 1891 Census finds George and his mother living at Benson’s Farm in Out Rawcliffe, neighbours to the Salthouse family at Moor Hall Farm.  Ann Williamson, 67, single, is head of household; his mother Elizabeth, 27, is a domestic servant, her brothers Robert and John are also employed on the farm.  George is 7.

When George was 8 years old, in 1892, his mother married James Bradley, a farmer.  

In 1901 George is living with his mother and stepfather at Benson Farm in Out Rawcliffe. They have a son John age 5; George is 17,  working on the family property "Bensons Farm", Out Rawcliffe. His step-father James Bradley is aged  37 and is a farmer, mother Elizabeth 37. Also present on the Census are step-brother John E. Bradley 6, uncle Richard Salthouse 44 and a hay dealer born inThistleton, and farm labourer William Bennett 48. 

When he was  24, in 1908, George married Jane Ellen Williamson in St. John’s Church, Out Rawcliffe. Their daughter Elizabeth was born that year.

In 1911 George and Jane Ellen are living at Town End, Out Rawcliffe, near Garstang. George, 27, is an assistant art teacher for the County Council.  Their daughter Elizabeth is 2.

A son Robert was born later in 1911, followed by George in 1912 and John in 1916. 

George enlisted in Garstang, as Private 34475 Royal Lancaster Regiment, but was subsequently transferred to the 20^th Bn, King’s (Liverpool) Regiment, and was serving as Private 50636 when he was killed in action aged 33 at the third Battle of Ypres, also called Passchendaele.  He must have been Missing in action, as his death was later officially established as occurring on or since 3/8/1917.  

George now rests at  Hooge Crater Cemetery, Zillebeke, Flanders where his headstone bears the epitaph:

“GOD BE WITH US TILL WE MEET AGAIN FROM WIFE AND CHILDREN”

Hooge Chateau and its stables were the scene of very fierce fighting throughout the First World War. On 31 October 1914, the staff of the 1st and 2nd Divisions were wiped out when the chateau was shelled; from 24 May to 3 June 1915, the chateau was defended against German attacks and in July 1915, the crater was made by a mine sprung by the 3rd Division. On 30 July, the Germans took the chateau, and on 9 August, it and the crater were regained by the 6th Division. The Germans retook Hooge on 6 June 1916 and on 31 July 1917, the 8th Division advanced 1.6 Kms beyond it. It was lost for the last time in April 1918, but regained by the 9th (Scottish) and 29th Divisions on 28 September.

Hooge Crater Cemetery was begun by the 7th Division Burial Officer early in October 1917. It contained originally 76 graves, in Rows A to D of Plot I, but was greatly increased after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields of Zillebeke, Zantvoorde and Gheluvelt and other smaller cemeteries.

There are now 5,916 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 3,570 of the burials are unidentified, but special memorials record the names of a number of casualties either known or believed to be buried among them, or whose graves in other cemeteries were destroyed by shell fire.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Jane Ellen was notified of his death of 28^th August.  His children were 8, 6, 4, and 10 months old when he was killed.  Jane Ellen, living at Mowbreck Hall, Wesham, received his effects, War Gratuity, and a pension of 28/9d a week for herself and four children. She later moved to Town End, Out Rawcliffe, near Garstang, and then to 11 Garstang Road, Wesham, Kirkham, Preston, Lancs.   Probate was granted to Jane Ellen in 1919, to the amount of £481.

His mother Elizabeth died in the June quarter of 1922 aged 57, and his step father James Bradley died in the December quarter of 1942 aged 80.

In 1939 at the outbreak of World War Two, Jane Ellen was still living at 11 Garstang Road, working as a news agent on her own account.  Their four children were still at home;  Elizabeth keeping the home, Robert and George working in the newsagent business, and John working as an aircraft assembly mechanic.  

Jane Ellen never remarried and died in 1975, aged 92.

George is also commemorated on the Out Rawcliffe Memorial (in the grounds of St. John‘s Church).

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