Gordon James Gray

Story:
Gordon James Gray was born in Ashmore, Shaftesbury, Dorset, on 13th March 1895 and baptised there on 5th May 1895, the son of Charles Gray and Elizabeth Ann Gray (née Taylor).  He lived his early life with his family in Ashmore.  He enlisted with the 1st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards as a Private (Service No. 10310).  He served in France and Flanders from 26 Aug 1914 and at some time thereafter was taken prisoner and spent time in a POW Camp in Germany.  On his release and discharge he was awarded the Victory and British War medals as well as the 1914/15 Star.  His father had died in 1918 and by the 1921 Census Gordon was living with his widowed mother in Noad Street, Ashmore, working as a Ploughman.  He married Bessie Weeks on 4 Feb 1922 at Tollard Royal, Wiltshire, but she regrettably died at the Westminster Memorial Hospital, Shaftesbury, and was buried at Farham, Dorset, on 8 Mar 1922 within weeks of the marriage.  He went on to re-marry Winifred May Weeks (his first wife's sister) in Long Langton, Dorset, on 18th February 1930.  By the time of the 1939 Register he was living at Dewlish Mill, Puddletown, Dorset, and was described as a Gamekeeper whilst also acting as an ARP Warden. He died in Dewlish Mill in 1970 and was buried there at All Saint's Church on 16th November 1970. Gordon's brother Herbert Charles (b.1899) also served in the war, with the Machine Gun Corps.