Virtual
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Australia

George was the son of Joseph (Charles) Silvanas TANNER & Clara NORTH and was born on the 16th of October 1894 in Fenchurch Street, London, England.
He was baptized on the 2nd of December 1894 in the Parish of St Katherine Coleman.

His parents were married in July 1892 in Hampstead, London.

His father was the son of Joseph Edward TANNER & Susannah RIDLER and was born on the 7th of June 1864 in Spitalfields, Middlesex, England.
His mother was the daughter of Robert NORTH & Mary Ann SIMPSON and was born on the 23rd of February 1863 in Islington, Middlesex, England.

George was the second child born into this family of 6 children.

His father was a Police Inspector for the City of London and by 1897 they lived in Fair Street, Bermondsey before moving to 8 Hall Street, London and George attended the Moreland Street School in October 1899.

At the Age of 15, George joined the Royal Navy on the 27th of September 1910.
Young boys were trained in seamanship and gunnery, as well as traditional aspects of sea life.
George served at the following bases and on board training ships; -

27.09.1910 – 07.01.1911 – Boy II Impregnable at Devenport
08.01.1911 – 04.04.1911 – Boy II Ganges at Shotley
05.04.1911 – 01.09.1911 – Boy I Ganges at Shotley
02.09.1911 – 20.10.1911 – Boy I Vivid I base at Plymouth
21.10.1911 – 13.02.1912 – Boy I Isis at sea
14.02.1912 – 26.03.1912 - Boy I Vivid I
27.06.1912 – 15.10.1912 – Boy I Indefatigable at Sloyne.

On his 18th birthday, the 16th of October 1912 George automatically became rated as an ordinary seaman and was subject to the Naval Discipline Act as applicable to adult seamen.
He was allotted the service number J9830.

*On a Boy's 18th birthday he automatically became rated as an ordinary seaman and was subject to the Naval Discipline Act as applicable to adult seamen.
He was then promoted to ordinary Signaller and posted to the following -

27.03.1913 – 30.03.13 – Berwick - armoured cruiser
31.03.1913 – 21.08.1913 - Vivid I - base at Plymouth
22.08.1913 – 05.09.1913 – promoted to Signaller Vivid I
06.09.1913 – 18.05.1914 – Cumberland - armoured cruiser
19.05.1914 – 26.05.1914 - Vivid I
27.05.1914 – 06.10.1914 - Vivid II at Devenport
07.10.1914 – 10.12.1914 – Benbow - Iron Duke-class battleship
11.12.1914 – 14.01.1915 – Caribbean - armed merchant cruiser

George then gained employment as a Quartermaster for the P&O Passenger Liner Company and in February had arrived in Melbourne on board one of the passenger liners.

Whilst in Melbourne, at the age of 20, George enlisted into the 1st AIF, Royal Australian Navy on the 10th of April 1915 and was allotted the service number 254N and posted to the newly formed and only Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train.

George embarked from Melbourne on board A39 Port Macquarie on the 3rd of June 1915.
He served at Gallipoli and in France and while in England he married Janet Wanless Allen SCOTT on the 14th of July 1919 in the Registry Office in Hammersmith, England.
Janet was the daughter of George Sheils SCOTT & Anne ALLAN and was born on the 10th of October 1892 in Galashiels, Selkirkshire, Scotland.
Her father was a Draper and at the time of their marriage they were both living at 20 Maclise Road, West Kensington.
His 2 brothers, Charles and Robert, where also living here at the time.
George and Janet embarked from England on board HT Marathon on the 7th of November 1919. They spent Christmas 1919 on board the ship before disembarking in Melbourne on the 26th of December.

George was discharged from the AIF on the 18th of April 1920.

They then made their home at 224 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, but sadly, Janet died on the 6th of November 1920 at their home and George buried her in the Coburg Cemetery.

By 1921 George had gained employment with the City Typewriting Agency of Melbourne as a typewriter mechanic. He was representing them in Ballarat and staying at the George Hotel when he lost his discharge papers and medals.

Over the next 10 years George struggled to stay on the right side of the law and spent many years in different gaols in NSW, QLD, VIC & SA.

He was even in the McLeod Settlement, French Island Penal Camp, in Victoria where he remained until he was released on the 18th of January 1932.

George then moved to Adelaide and was living in Franklin Street.

George married Doreen Jane WARNOCK on the 8th of December 1932 in the Queen’s Home Maternity Hospital in Rose Park.
Doreen was the daughter of John Bryson WARNOCK & Esther SIMS and was born on the 6th of August 1910 in Gladstone, SA.

Doreen had just given birth to their first child; Graham, that very day.

George was in the custody of detectives and was taken to the Yatala Labour Prison, immediately after the service.
He had just pleaded guilty in the Adelaide Police Court to 2 charges of larceny and 1 of unlawful possession.
Before his sentence was proposed George had applied for remand to marry Doreen. The matter was discussed and George was granted his request and he was allowed time before 4pm that afternoon to marry Doreen.

George was released on the 14th of April 1933 but by April 1935 he was again sentenced to 18 months gaol for false pretences.
After his release they lived at 117 Carrington Street, Adelaide and then by 1940 they had moved to 187 Wakefield Street.

At the age of 46, George enlisted into the 4th Garrison Battalion on the 17th of April 1940 in Keswick and allotted the service number S212809.
On the 29th of January 1941 he was transferred to the 1st Australian Water Transport Group (RAE) and entrained to New South Wales on the 31st of March.

George was transferred back to South Australia for discharge on the 19th of April, granted some leave, then discharged from service on the 17th of May 1943.
He had asked to be discharged on compassionate grounds.

By 1947 George had gained employment as a Lighthouse keeper at Pt MacDonnell and then by March 1949 they had been transferred to Whyalla and lived at 18 Kittel Street before moving to 5 Brealy Street.

In December 1950 they were transferred to the Cape Jaffa Lighthouse and lived in the actual Lighthouse.

They later moved back to Whyalla.

George died on the 8th of October 1964 in Whyalla and was buried in the Whyalla Cemetery 2 days later; Section A, Row 24, Plot 1.

Reverend J F Ridley officiated at the gravesite.

Doreen then remarried to Robert GASTON.

Doreen died on the 17th of June 1973 and was buried in the Whyalla Cemetery.

Military

WW1

At the age of 20, George enlisted into the 1st AIF, Royal Australian Navy on the 10th of April 1915 in Melbourne and allotted the service number 254N and posted to the newly formed and only Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train.
He listed his mother, of 8 Banburry Road, Hackney, London, as his next of kin.

By 1915, with the prompt seizure of Germany's Pacific possessions, it was becoming apparent that there would be very little for the Royal Australian Naval Brigade to do beyond securing Australia's ports. It was also becoming obvious that trench warfare was going to be the main feature of the Western Front, and that engineering units were in strong demand. Reports reached Australia that even a Naval contingent would be acceptable.
On 12 February, the Government made the offer to the Imperial Government to provide one Bridging Train, in accordance with "Imperial War Establishments." Within a week, the offer was accepted.

The Train grew to 115 men by the 12th of March and was encamped on Kings Domain, Melbourne. The Commander of the Train, Lieutenant Bracegirdle, had also discovered that no one left in Australian in either the Army or the Navy had any useful knowledge on the subject of bridging trains, they would have to wait for their pontoons and vehicles to be built and a wait of at least six weeks before they would be able to begin training, and that almost all of their unit would need to be taught to ride, on very few horses.

George embarked from Melbourne on board A39 Port Macquarie on the 3rd of June 1915 and the Train included; 5 Officers, 3 Warrant Officers, 267 Petty Officers and other ranks, 26 reinforcements, 412 horses, 5 6-horse pontoons and tressle wagons and 8 other vehicles.

They were headed to Chatham, England to be trained in the construction of pontoons. Of course, this was the First World War. The Train reached Port Said, Egypt on the 17th of July 1915 and was issued orders to continue on to England.
The next day, the 18th, they received orders to the Dardanelles.
Arriving at the Greek isle of Imbros 3 days later, yet more new orders were received, transferring control of the Train from the British Admiralty, which had been given operational control of the Royal Australian Navy to the British Army and attaching it to IX Army Corps under Lt. General Stopford which was to land at Suvla Bay on the 7th of August.

While at Imbros, the Train received a grand total of five days of instruction on the use of their pontoons, a task which needed six days worth of unloading and reloading the equipment. After this minimal training, they were considered ready to land under enemy fire.

At 5am on the 6th of August 1915, they embarked upon HMAT A53 Itria, reached their designated anchorage and then the landing was well underway. A party was sent ashore to find the best place to continue the landing and where to later build the infrastructure to reinforce the Corps.
Mid-morning, when Lieutenant Bracegirdle attempted to confer with the IX Corps Chief Engineer, Brigadier-General E.H. Bland, as ordered, but he was unable to be found.
This forced the Train to sit idle until late afternoon when they were tasked with putting together a temporary pier at A Landing, which had been left without a party to construct it. It was the second day at Suvla when the Train began to come into its own, constructing two piers and rowing the second into place at A Beach, a trip of approximately 2 miles (3.2 km), for use by the lifeboats evacuating injured soldiers. They assembled the 110 metre-long structure in 20 minutes.
The next few days were occupied with constructing further piers as well as landing troops and supplies to assist the landing and shifting their base from their landing point to Kangaroo Beach.

Soon, the Train was put in charge of the landing's water supply, something that had been neglected during the early stage of the campaign. As there was no supply available, water had to be brought by sea, often in petrol tins. This responsibility was given to the Train on the 12th of August, they were able to source three fire engines and some hoses, which, with the Train's pontoons were used to pump supplies brought from transport ships to tanks on the beach.
The fire hoses were kept under guard and eventually replaced with metal pipe as soldiers would constantly make holes in it to get at the water inside.
This was just some of the work that saw George and the Train removed from the 11th Division and directly attached to the IX Corps Engineers, becoming responsible for all work afloat or on the beach up to the high-water mark that the Navy might require.

The principal duties allotted to the unit by the Royal Navy were as follows: Water supply, care of landing-piers, discharging of stores from store-ships and transports, lighterage of same to the shore, salving of lighters and steamboats wrecked during gales, assisting in salving of T.B.D. Louis, disembarking of troops with their baggage on all beaches, and of munitions and stores.

The duties allotted to the unit by the IX Army Corps were briefly as follows : Control and issue of all engineer and trench stores and materials, care and issue of trench bombs and demolition stores (for some weeks after landing, and until proper ordnance dumps were established), erection of high-explosive magazines, dug-outs, cookhouses, and galleys, assembly of hospital huttings, construction of iron frames for front-line wire entanglements; and the manning and control of the steam tug Daphne.

Other jobs that fell to the Train were to act as wireless operators and draughtsmen for the Army Corps and Lt Commander Bracegirdle was the "Beachmaster" of Kangaroo Beach.

While the Train wasn't actually involved in the actual fighting, it was constantly shelled and bombed by Turkish forces.
On the 20th of September George was admitted into the 26th Stationary Hospital with an ulcer on his leg and Enrtic Fever and then transferred by hospital ship HT Assaye to Malta where he was admitted into the St Andrews Hospital in Malta.
He was then transferred to England on the 8th of August on board HS Panama and admitted into the 1st Southern General Hospital in Birmingham.
George spent Christmas 1915 here before being discharged to the 5th Convalescent Depot at Abbey Wood on the 28th of January 1916.

He spent 2 months here before being posted to the Monte Vide Camp in Weymouth and then to Westham Camp.
On the 21st of June George was transferred to the Engineers Training Depot in Christchurch, Hampshire and after 6 weeks of training was posted to the Engineers Detail in Parkhouse.
Then on the 12th of December he was transferred to No.1 Command Depot in Perham Downs.
George then proceeded to Egypt and was taken on strength with the 1st Light Horse Training Regiment before rejoining his Train on the 31st of January 1917.

Now under command of Lt. Bond the Train were located at Lake Timsah on the Suez Canal. Here, at Suez Canal No. 2 Section, they were responsible for manning and controlling existing bridges, building new bridges, control of tugboats and lighters and the distribution of stores.

During the time that George was away from his Train new members who had not served under fire started to complain that they were being used for simple work that could be done by the Egyptian labourers. Word of this eventually reached the Defence Department who soon wrote to the Commonwealth Naval Board, which said that the men of the train "would be unsuitable for use aboard HMA Ships; if no longer required as a Bridging Train, the unit should be disbanded, and its members either sent as reinforcements to the Australian Engineers or Artillery, or brought back to Australia.
The Defence Department took the matter to the War Office, where General Archibald Murray, the General Officer Commanding Egypt made his opinion that the Train was engaged in "work of an important military nature".
Lt Commander Bracegirdle was informed at the start of January 1917 that the Train would be relieved of it duties on the Canal and get back into the War, heading deeper into Palestine.

George and his Train then spent the beginning of February preparing for their new mission, only to be informed that only part of the unit would be required for the duties in Palestine on the 8th of February 1917. During this time George was promoted to Able Bodied Driver.

Lt Commander Bracegirdle was also instructed to find out how his men could be redistributed. 76 men indicated they would be willing to transfer to the AIF, 43 to the Royal Navy, while the remainder wished to stay with the Train.
After this, on the 18th of February, the War Office sent the Defence Department another telegram on the matter, which did not reflect the outcome of Bracegirdle's survey at all.

On the 20th of March, the Train was informed that they were being disbanded and were asked to make a choice as to their next assignment. The results were very clear, the vast majority of members choosing to remain with the Royal Australian Navy.
The Train's Headquarters had been set up at Kubri West and it was here that George elected to transfer to the AIF Artillery, as a driver, on the 30th of March 1917.

George was transferred to the Artillery Detail Camp at Moascar and then on the 4th of May he embarked from Alexandria for England and marched into No.3 Camp in Parkhouse Depot, near Tidworth, 10 days later.
On the 5th of June George was transferred to the 17th Field Company Australian Engineers at Brightlingsea.
He then spent 2 months here training in bridging, pontooning, demobilization and earthworks.

They were then relocated to Parkhouse from the 28th of August until the 12th of September when they were relocated to No.10 Camp in Durrington.
They were then moved to Fovant Camp and started the construction of a rifle range here but did not complete it as they received demobilization orders.
On the 19th of October George went AWOL for 12 days during their move to Parkhouse and was forfeited 44 days pay and sentenced to 12 days detention.

During this time the 17th Field Company Australian Engineers were demobilized and George proceeded to France as part of a reinforcement draft of the 5th Division Engineers on the 8th of November.
On the 26th of November he was posted to the 14th Field Company Australian Engineers, who were located at How Farm and constructing splinter proof dugouts.

By the 14th of December they had moved to their billets at Questrecques and commenced further training.
They spent Christmas 1917 here and in January they completed the 14th Brigade baths at Halinghem at then moved to Wytschaetz where they were employed to construct dugout accommodation.
They remained here for all of February and March and completed a new Divisional bomb dump and by the end of March they had moved to Clairfaye.

Their next move was to Aubigny, where, on the 22nd of April George went AWOL for 3 hours and was found in possession of a civilian bicycle. He was awarded 7 days Field Punishment No.2.
By mid May they had moved to Corbie and on the 20th George went AWOL, yet again, for 3 days and this time was awarded 28 days Field Punishment No.2.
On the 8th of June George was transferred to the 29th Battalion who were located at Rivery conducting training. They then moved to the Brigade reserve position on the Bray-Corbie Road 6 days later and it was here on the 21st that George managed to go AWOL for 3 days again, but this time he was to sit a Court Martial.

A few days after his apprehension, George suffered a sprained left ankle and was admitted into the 2nd General Hospital in Le Havre.
He was then transferred to No.8 Canadian Hospital in St Cloud, near Paris on the 5th of July. On his discharged 8 days later he was released to the Deputy Assistant Provost Marshal (DAPM) in Paris.
Eleven days later he suffered from Influenza before being returned to his Battalion in the front line at Morlancourt.

In August and September they took part in the great advance that followed the battle of Amiens. They fought their last major action in September when they attacked the Hindenburg Line across the top of the 6-kilometre-long St Quentin Canal tunnel; the canal was a major obstacle in the German defensive scheme.

At Ramburelles on the 12th of October the Battalion was disbanded and amalgamated with the 32nd Battalion.
On this same day George stood before the Field General Court Martial for being AWOL on the 21st of June and was warded 40 days Field Punishment No.2.
However his sentence was terminated on the 6th of November whilst they were in training at Ramburelles and it was here on the 11th of November that they received the news of the Armistice.

Two weeks later George sprained his left ankle again and was admitted into the 8th Australian Field Ambulance before being transferred to the 3rd Australian General Hospital in Abberville.
On his discharge from hospital he was posted to the 1st Australian General Base Depot (AGBD) in Le Havre on the 2nd of December as he was part of the 1915 personnel and they were to be the first men to be returned to Australia.
George embarked 15.12.18 to England 13 days later and was then admitted into the Fulham Military Hospital.
After his discharge he was granted leave 3 days leave before reporting to the Reserve Brigade Australian Artillery (RBAA) demobilisation camp in Heytebury on the 4th of March 1919.

Ten days later he went AWOL for 4 days and forfeited 10 days pay before being detached for duty to AIF Headquarters Q Registry.
During his time here George met a young lady by the name of Wanless Allen SCOTT and they married on the 14th of July 1919 in the Registry Office in Hammersmith, England.

Then on the 30th of September George became eligible for 15 extra days leave and then on the 6th of October he was granted indefinite leave.

George and Janet embarked from England on board HT Marathon on the 7th of November 1919. They spent Christmas 1919 on board the ship before disembarking in Melbourne on the 26th of December.

George was discharged from the AIF on the 18th of April 1920 and awarded the 1914/15 Star, British War & Victory Medals.
___________________

WW2

At the age of 46, George enlisted into the 4th Garrison Battalion on the 17th of April 1940 in Keswick and allotted the service number S212809.
He listed his wife, of 187 Wakefield Street, Adelaide, as his next of kin.
He took 1 year of off his birth age when he enlisted and claimed he was born in 1895.

For the most part, the 4th Garrison Battalion guarded vital Adelaide assets which included the cable station at Grange, the radio mast at Rosewater and the several ammunition depots dotted in various locations in and around Adelaide. The battalion also took care of general security duties at other military sites in South Australia and was also responsible for some temporary Internment Camp security.

On the 28th of October 1940 George was graded a Group 2 Signaller and a month later he was attached to 18th Garrison Battalion.
He then returned to the 4th Garrison Battalion on the 7th of January 1941 and remained with them until the 29th of January 1941 when he was transferred to the 1st Australian Water Transport Group (RAE) and entrained to New South Wales on the 31st of March.
George was responsible for the supply and operation of small water craft and dock services.

George was transferred back to South Australia for discharge on the 19th of April, granted some leave, then discharged from service on the 17th of May 1943.
He had asked to be discharged on compassionate grounds.