Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Chief Petty Officer George Riley (Service No:213) enlisted in the Royal Navy as a 'Boy' in 1911, and on 14 October 1912 was at the London Depot when he enlisted in the RAN as an Ordinary Seaman. Promoted to Leading Seaman in 1914, Petty Officer in 1918 and Chief Petty Officer in 1920, CPO Riley was attached to numerous ships, including HMAS Cerberus, Penguin, Melbourne and Pioneer. CPO Riley was Discharged in 1938, and re engaged in the RAN in 1940 as CPO Instructor in Hobart. He was CPO Physical Training attached to HMAS Huon at Discharge on 6 December 1946 - service spanning more than thirty years.

George was born at Macquarrie Plains, Tasmania in 1893, sixth of seven children of Thomas Riley (b1852 in Ballarat, Victoria) and his second wife Annie Maria Jenkins (b1857 in Broadmeadows, Victoria). Thomas (a Butcher) and Annie married in 1879 in Melbourne, and in the early 1880s moved to Tasmania. Thomas and Annie lived in Hamilton and New Norfolk until the mid 1890s. Following Annie's death in 1895, Thomas settled in Hobart. Thomas was a Butcher.

George served in the Navy from 1911, and in 1921 in Launceston married Dorothy Agnes Williams (b1900 in Hobart, Tasmania). George served in the Navy for more than thirty years - with a brief break in 1938 - and was a Naval Instructor from the 1920s. His three children (Dorothy, George and Alison) served in the RAN in WWII. George died in 1956, and Dorothy died in 1993.