Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of James and Elizabeth DORRELL, King's Ash, The Lee, Great Missenden, Bucks, England

 
#4769 DORRELL George                                                         15th / 31st Battalions
 
George Dorrell was born in the village of King’s Ash, Missenden in the county of Buckinghamshire. According to his father, George attended Lee Common Church of England School and then worked as a herdsman on a dairy farm. He also worked as a gardener on the local estate. At the age of 17, George emigrated to Queensland.
 
In the first decades of the 20th Century, there was a sustained migration program in England recruiting young men for work in the Australian colonies. Many of these schemes were sponsored by the Church of England and managers in Australia sourced suitable employment for the emigrees. Probably as a result of one such scheme, George was placed at the sawmill operating at Mount Binga near Cooyar, as a mill hand.
 
On 9th October 1915, George travelled by train to Oakey and then Toowoomba where he presented himself for enlistment in the AIF. He advised the officer he was 21 years and 8 months old. George stated his occupation as labourer and named his father of King’s Ash as his next of kin. Once accepted, George took a train to Brisbane and on to Enoggera Camp where he was placed into a depot battalion for initial training where he was subsequently allocated to the 9th reinforcements of the 15th Battalion.
 
In November and December 1915, the Dardanelles Campaign was abandoned and all the AIF troops on Gallipoli were evacuated and brought back to the camps in Egypt. George and the rest of the 9th reinforcements boarded the “Commonwealth” in Brisbane on 28th March 1916 for the voyage to Egypt where they joined Gallipoli veterans and other reinforcements. A British requirement was for the AIF was to increase the size of the force from two to four divisions. This required a degree of reorganization and the creation of new battalions. By the time the 9threinforcements arrived in Egypt, the reorganization was almost complete and the 9th reinforcements were not required. Instead, they were sent to England to join the pool of reinforcements being assembled there in anticipation of the AIF’s deployment to the Western Front in France.
 
George embarked on the “Arcadian” in Alexandria Harbour on 20th July 1916 and sailed to Southampton. While the reinforcements were at sea, the AIF went into a major battle on the Western Front for the first time. On 9th August, George and the reinforcements landed and made their way to 3rd Brigade Training Battalion at Perham Downs. Across the English Channel, the Battle of the Somme was raging with all four divisions put into the fight. One division in particular, the 5th Division AIF, had received a thorough mauling at the hands of the German defenders at Fromelles with over 5,500 killed, seriously wounded or missing. The division was in desperate need of reinforcements and George was re-assigned to the 31st Battalion, part of the 8th Brigade of the 5th Division AIF. George arrived in France on 1stOctober 1916 and was taken on strength by the 31st Battalion on 13th October.
 
The 31st was still reeling from the losses incurred at Fromelles two months previously and much of the time was spent rebuilding the battalion. In late November 1916, the 31st Battalion was brought up to a quiet sector for a short period of front-line duty. Winter was closing in and the Western Front would be virtually shut down until spring. On the 21stNovember 1916, George Dorrell received a gun shot wound to the head. He had probably made the same mistake as many men posted to the front for the first time and not kept his head down below the parapet. George was taken to the 38th Casualty Clearing Station the next day from where he was placed on an ambulance train for the journey to the #3 Stationary Hospital at Rouen. George was listed as dangerously ill and he had lapsed into unconsciousness.  George died of his wounds on 5th December 1916, aged 22. He was buried in the St Sever Cemetery adjacent to the hospital.
 
George’s father received a bundle of his son’s personal effects which included letters and photos, a fountain pen and autograph book, and shaving gear. In the 1920’s James Dorrell also received his son’s service medals; the Empire Medal and Victory Medal.