The Life of George Bayliss (1868 - 1941)
By his great-great-great-grandson, Oliver Moules
George Bayliss was born in the market town of Ledbury, in the east of Herefordshire, on the 27th of April 1868. He was the seventh child of Thomas Bayliss, a 46-year-old boatman who worked on the canal, and his 41-year-old wife Mary Ann Thomas. George had four older brothers and two older sisters, as well as five half-siblings from his mother’s first marriage to William Lane, who died in 1856. George’s younger sister, Ada, was born in 1872 when George was four years old. George grew up in a small cottage next to the Hereford-Gloucester Canal, where his father worked as a boatman transporting goods and people along it on his canal boat. George’s mother died when he was eight years old, and he was raised solely by his father from then on.
George left school around the age of 12. Immediately after leaving school, George started working as a boatman for his father. In addition to his father, George also worked alongside his older brother Samuel. They worked aboard Thomas’ canal boat, which he had named “Emma.” Their job was to transport timber and coal along the canal, which they would sail from Ledbury to Gloucester every day.
When George was 21 years old, he decided to leave the boatman trade and instead enlist in the army. He traveled to Hereford, where he enlisted in The Royal Artillery on the 29th of August 1889. He was described as 5ft 9¾ and 154lbs, with light brown hair and grey-coloured eyes. George then traveled 50 miles to Shrewsbury for his medical examination two days later. He was deemed “physically fit” for service, and was officially approved for military service on the 2nd of September 1889. After spending three months training at the Royal Hibernian Military School in Dublin, George was posted to Singapore on the 5th of December.
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| George during his time in India. |
At this time, Singapore was a British Crown Colony. The Colonial Government’s ineffectiveness in controlling the growing population of Singapore resulted in the society becoming lawless and chaotic. This had paved the way for several Chinese criminal “secret societies” to become extremely powerful, and wars between rival factions of these societies resulted in hundreds of deaths. The British governor, Sir Cecil Clementi Smith, had began clamping down on these societies in 1889 – so it is likely George spent his time in Singapore doing this. Smith’s plan was somewhat successful, and the secret societies were driven underground. George returned home to England on the 11th of April 1891.
Whilst back home, George returned to his job as a labourer. A year later, he was called up again and was posted to India, arriving on the 22nd of September 1892. George spent the next five years in India. On the 28th of November 1895 he was promoted to the rank of Lance Bombardier, but on the 14th of December he was demoted back to the rank of Gunner at his own request. George returned home on the 19th of March 1897.
Upon his return to the UK, George moved from Herefordshire to Wales. It is likely he went to Wales for work. He settled in the village of Williamstown, in the Rhondda Valley, where he found work as a coal miner. Not long after, George met Sarah Jane Walters who had lived there for several years. Four months later, on the 17th of July 1897, George and Sarah got married. George and Sarah lived at 8 Rowling Street, in Williamstown, with Sarah’s parents William and Lizzie, and her brother Thomas.
George and Sarah’s first child, Alice Maud Bayliss, was born on the 11th of April 1898 – 16 days before George’s 30th birthday. They had a son, Trevor Thomas Bayliss, in 1899 but Trevor died at the age of 1. On the 11th of October 1899, The Second Boer War broke out in South Africa between Britain and The Boers. In January 1900 George was called up to fight in the war. George and his regiment set sail for South Africa board The Cestrian and arrived on the 10th of January 1900. As part of the “14th King’s Hussars” regiment, George fought in the Siege of Kimberley, where British forces defended the town of Kimberley from attacking Boer forces. The war ended with a British victory on the 31st of May 1902. George returned home to Williamstown on the 18th of August, where he returned to his previous job as a coal miner.
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| George in the military in later life - either The Boer War or World War I. |
Upon returning from the war, George and Sarah moved out of Sarah’s parents’ house and into their own house 12 doors down, at 20 Rowlings Street. Over the next few years, George and Sarah had four more children: William Henry “Bill” Bayliss in 1902 and twins Elsie Maud Bayliss and Allen George Bayliss in 1904. Allen died shortly after his birth, and Elsie died at the age of one. George’s children Maud and Bill were the only ones to survive to adulthood. George and Sarah also lived with George’s friend Alfred Brimble, who worked alongside George in the coal mine.
George was possibly involved in the infamous Tonypandy Riots of 1910. The riot started after a series of strikes by coal miners in South Wales over their wages - George may have been among the coal miners who was striking. The strike eventually turned into a riot where shops and houses of the mine owners were attacked. In response Winston Churchill, who was Home Secretary at the time, ordered the military to go and stop the strikers. Over 500 miners were injured and at least one was known to have been killed. Several strikers were sent to jail, which resulted in another protest where up to 10,000 miners marched in their support. Many in South Wales were very resentful towards Churchill for his actions against the miners - many living in South Wales still hold this grudge today. George and his family also held animosity towards Churchill for this event. A few years later, the Bayliss family moved to 16 Davies Street, in Williamstown.
On the 28th of July 1914, World War I erupted throughout Europe. He signed up to the army on the 3rd of September 1914, in Porth. He was described as 5ft 12, 148lbs and with grey eyes and brown hair. George was posted to France in January 1916 and helped man the artillery guns until October. He was recalled to Harfleur, in France, where he was deemed “physically unfit for service”, discharged and sent home. He was found to be suffering from myalgia, which is pain in the muscles caused by a combination of old age and trench fever. George returned home on the 25th of October 1916. The war ended two years later, in 1918.
Around 1920, George met Tom Franklin. Tom was also a veteran of World War I, and originally from the village of Box, in Wiltshire. Tom had come to Williamstown after the war to work in the coal mines, following his brother who had done the same thing. George and Tom worked together in the coal mines, so it is likely that it was through George that Tom met George’s daughter Maud. Tom and Maud got married on the 26th of March 1921. They had four children: Violet in 1921, Bill in 1924, Dennis in 1927 and Nancy in 1933. In the late 1930s, Tom and Maud moved their family back to Tom’s hometown of Box. George and Sarah’s son, Bill Bayliss, also went with them. George and Sarah then moved into a new house, 51 Cornwall Road. It is known that George had a close relationship with his granddaughter, Violet.
In the late 1930s, Sarah became hospitalised in Llwynypia Hospital, about 2 miles away. She died there on the 16th of October 1939, age 64. This left George a widower. He lived alone at his house in Williamstown from then on. Although by this time he was retired, George received a pension from the army for his service in the Boer War and World War I. George died in his house on the 7th of November 1941, age 73. His daughter, Maud, died three months later at the age of just 43. George was buried beside his wife in Williamstown. His son, Bill, never married or had children and lived until 1975.
George’s first great-grandchild, Christine Maud Stenner, was born in 1944, 2.5 years after George died.
