Rifleman George Thomas Merchant
Devonshire Regiment,43315 and the 1st/5th Battalion, King’s (Liverpool Regiment), 51308
Killed in Action
Date of Birth: 1887
Place of Birth: Shaldon, Devon
Date of Death: 30 November 1917 aged 30
Buried: Remembered on the Villers-Faucon Communal Cemetery Extension, Stokeinteignhead and Shaldon War Memorials
Awarded the Victory and British War medal
Rifleman George Thomas Merchant, aged 30, was the son of Henry Merchant and his wife Harriet nee Maunder. George was baptized, Thomas George, at St Nicholas Church, Shaldon with Ringmore, on the 1st of May 1887.
His father, an agricultural labourer, died in 1907 and the 1911 census finds George living with his mother at Rose Cottage, Ringmore Road, working as a painter and paper hanger.
| George Thomas Merchant and his siblings | |
| George Merchant 1887 | Joseph Merchant 1889 |
| Daisy Merchant 1890 | Violet Merchant 1890 |
| William Merchant 1892 | Primrose Merchant 1895 |
George Thomas Merchant 1913 Shaldon Polling District ©THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD
George Thomas Merchant enlisted after the 1st of October 1916 at Exeter and joined the Devonshire Regiment (service no 43315).
King’s (Liverpool Regiment) Cap Badge © IWM (INS 5535
Later he transferred to the 1st/5th Battalion of King's Liverpool Regiment (service no 51308). He was killed in action on 30 November 1917 and is commemorated Villers-Faucon Communal Cemetery Extension, Stokeinteignhead and Shaldon War Memorials.
In 1917, the 5th Battalion, Kings Regiment (Liverpool) were in action at Pilkem Ridge and Menin Road Ridge during the Third Battle of Ypres. They moved south to Cambrai where they suffered heavy casualties during the German Counter Attacks on the 30th of November 1917.
