George Hornby was born in Fleetwood in 1896 and baptised at St. Peter on 5 July. He was the second of thirteen children born to William Henry Hornby and his wife Martha Gradwell who married the previous year at the same church. A daughter had been born before the marriage and baptised privately as Edith Hornsby Gradwell on 14 August 1894 but sadly she lived for only a few weeks and was buried on 8 November 1894.
The Hornby family lived in several houses in Upper Dock Street, Fleetwood during the mid-late 1890s and 1900s including numbers 19, 47, 59 and 52 where more children were born: John William (1897-1897), John (1899-1899), Richard Andrew (1900-1967), William Henry (1902-1958), Ernest (1904-1980), John Leonard (1906-1910), Peter Hesketh (1907-1954), Thomas (1908-1980), Walter (1909-1910). When the Census was taken on 2 April 1911, the family had moved to 23 Church Street, Fleetwood. Two more children were born subsequently: Ellen (1911-1943) and Leonard (1913-1970).
William Henry senior had been a mariner in his early life but he later undertook a number of onshore roles at Fleetwood docks, including hydraulic crane driver, porter and labourer. George also began working as a dock labourer and, immediately prior to the war, he was engaged by John David Gibson (1858-1926), director of the Rossall Steam Fishing Company, on the Fleetwood fish stage.
George's war service record has not survived but we know that he joined the King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment. He was sent to France on 14 February 1915 and promoted to the rank of Corporal. He was killed in action on 1 August 1917. George was aged 21 and unmarried but as his last letter home, forwarded after his death, showed he had a sweetheart.
"Well, mother and dad, this may be the last letter I shall ever write to you for we go over in two days, and should it be God's will to take me, you will know that I did not die a coward. Both you and dad have been very good to me, and I only hope the children will prove a credit to you, because you deserve it. I suppose you know I picked up with [name redacted], while I was at home, but I don't know exactly her feelings towards me... I wish I was just now going with dad to the work yard. Give my little brother and sister a kiss for me. Well, mother, I have been rough and all that but I have always tried to do my best at home... " (Fleetwood Chronicle and Fylde Advertiser, 17 August 1917, page 7). By then, the Hornby family home was at 13 Rock Street, Thornton, William Henry senior having become a labourer at the United Alkali Works.
Cpl. George Hornby, 240452, "D" Company, 1st/5th Battalion, King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment is buried in Plot 25, Row G, Grave 14 at the New Irish Farm Cemetery, St Jean-les-Ypres, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.
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