Geoffrey Philip Ellis died of wounds on this day in 1918

Geoffrey Ellis was born 21 April 1899  in Bow, London, the youngest son of Robert (a railway booking clerk) and Violet Eliza (née Beck) of Bury Street, Lower Edmonton.

At the 1901 Census, he was one year old and lived at home with his parents, two older siblings and two boarders (a railway clerk and railway porter) at 23 Hendon Road, Edmonton.

He was educated at Latymer Secondary School. 

Before the war Geoffrey was a clerk in the bank at Waltham Abbey. He enlisted in the Training Reserve on 21 May 1917, later transferring to the Warwickshire Regiment in November and served in France and Flanders from 31 March 1918.

He died of wounds received on 31 May 1918 in No.58 Field Ambulance.

The Battalion War Diary describes heavy enemy shelling on the morning of the 31st, with the Battalion compelled to withdraw under a heavy barrage, to a position overlooking the road from Ville-en-Tardenois to Chambrecy. By evening, they were forced to retire a further 800 yards to a 'more favourable position'.

Two army chaplains wrote "I have met few boys so really good as he was" and "Your son was greatly missed by all who knew him, and his loss is keenly felt by us all".

Geoffrey was buried in the cemetery attached to the dressing station at Nanteuil-la-Fosse, north-west of Epernay. His grave was later concentrated to Marfaux British Cemetery in 1920.

38260 Pte Geoffrey Philip Ellis, 10th (Service) Bn. The Royal Warwickshire Regiment