George Gray

Story:
George Gray was born in Shaftesbury, Dorset, on 3 Jun 1899 and baptised at St. James Church on 6 Aug 1899 the son of George Gray and Agnes Selina Gray (nee Arnold).  He lived all his life, prior to Military Service, in the St. James Street area of Shaftesbury.  He had enlisted and joined the Somerset Light Infantry as a Private (Service No. 40628).  He was later transferred to the Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire) Regiment (Service No. 48606) and served in France and Flanders where was taken prisoner by the Germans on 26 Aug 1918 in Metz, France, and sent to a POW Camp in Germany.    On his release following the Armistice he was posted to Iraq and whilst there was admitted to the Basra Military Hospital with pneumonia where he died on 2 Nov 1919.  He was buried in the Basra War Cemetery, Al Basrah, Basra, Iraq, (Grave Ref: II. F.5.).  (The gravestone refers to him being a Lance Corporal).  His name appeared on a Roll of Honour published in the St. James' Church Parish Magazine in Nov 1918 and on the War Memorial in St. James Churchyard.