Posted: Wed 19 May, 2010 4:17 pm
I don't know if this has already been mentioned before (nothing on the Search facility) but...George Ellison, the last British serviceman to be killed on the Western Front during The Great War, was from Leeds.According to a Timewatch TV programme, The Last Day of World War One (presented by Michael Palin,) Private Ellison was killed in action at Mons, Belgium, on the last day of the War, between the signing of the Armistice, and it's implementation at 11:00, on 11th November, 1918.He was born in 1878, and served in the army before the War, but was a coal miner when he married in 1912. He was called up in August 1914, joining the 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers at the age of 36. He fought at Mons, Ypres, Armentieres, La Bassee, Lens, Loos and Cambrai, before being killed back where he started at Mons, just one and a half hours before the guns fell silent.His home was Edmund Street, off York Street, Leeds, and he is buried at St Jean.Anyone else see the programme? I saw a repeat on the Yesterday channel.