- See Arthur William Gee’s entry on the Board of Trade’s Ancestry public tree.
- This information updates the group’s previous research published on the former DTI website (now archived by the National Archives).
- Do you have any more information about Arthur William Gee? If so the War Memorial Research Group would love to hear from you.
Name recorded on Board of Trade Memorial: A. W. Gee
Born: 13 January 1885, Hackney, London
Date of Death: 10 August 1917
Age at death: 31
Service, Regiment, Corps, etc: Royal Fusiliers
Unit, Ship, etc: 11th (Service) Battalion
Enlisted: St Paul’s Churchyard
Rank: Private (Service no: 20033)
Decorations: WW1 Campaign medals (Victory Medal and British War Medal)
War (and theatre): WW1 (France and Flanders)
Manner of Death: Presumed
Family Details: Son of Arthur E Gee, 4 Filey Avenue, Stoke Newington, London
Residence: Stoke Newington
Home Department: Board of Trade – Patent Office
Civilian Rank: Second Division Clerk
Cemetery or Memorial: Hooge Crater Cemetery, Ypres (IV.D.10); Board of Trade War Memorial, London; Patent Office War Memorial, Concept House, Newport, Wales; Gee family grave, Chingford Mount Cemetery, London;
Biography:
Arthur William Gee was born on 13 January 1885 in Hackney. His father was Arthur Ernest Gee (1857-1945) and his mother was Jane Matilda Stacey (1852-1920). He had one brother Sydney Henry Gee (1887-1951). Arthur was baptised on 10 January 1886 at St Augustine’s Church, Haggerston.
In the 1901 census, Arthur was aged 15 and living with his parents at 110 Lansdowne Road, Hackney. His father was a post office sorter at the Mount Pleasant sorting office in London. In the 1901 the younger Arthur was working as a Boy Copyist at the General Post Office. The Gee family are still living at 110 Lansdowne Road in the 1911 census. By now Arthur William is aged 25 and has been promoted to be a Second Division Clerk in the Civil Service.
According to a Board of Trade list dated April 1918, Arthur Gee was a Private in the one of the ‘pals battalions’ of friends and colleagues – the 26th (Service) Battalion (the so-called “Bankers Battalion) of the Royal Fusiliers and was transferred to the 31st (Reserve) Battalion and later to the 11th (Service) Battalion.
On 10 August 1917 he was reported “missing presumed dead” during the Third Battle of Ypres (also known as the Battle of Passchendaele) which was a huge epic battle fought between July and November 1917. It was a British attempt to break the deadlock of WW1.
The London WW1 Memorial 1914-1918 website provides a useful summary of the circumstances surrounding the battle and what happened to Arthur on 10 August 1917, as follows:
“The opening of the battle on 31st July, 1917, had seen some gains and many losses in terms of casualties but by 3rd August, with the rain continuing to pour down and the mud slowing down everyone’s progress and making a complete misery of life, the attacks petered out. With the rainfall easing off, if not exactly stopping during the second week of August, plans to renew the attack were made and on 10th August, 18th Division and 25th Division took part in an attack on the village of Westhoek and the Gheluvelt plateau beyond it. While on the right of 18th Division 7th Royal West Surrey (Queens) of 55 Brigade, attempted but largely failed to form a defensive flank along the southern edge of Inverness Copse, 11th Royal Fusiliers and 7th Bedfordshire of 54 Brigade launched a attack at 4.35am along a 750 yard front after a 45 minute artillery barrage of the German lines. They reached the German 2nd Line on either side of Fitzclarence Farm but a gap of 300 yards had developed between the two battalions that the enemy were able to exploit . 7th Bedfordshire stormed Glencorse Wood but could only establish isolated posts and because of the gap between them and 11th Royal Fusiliers their right was considerably bent back and eventually the Germans were able to push through the wood and force them back to Jargon Trench. At 5pm the enemy began to mass for a counter attack which, under cover of a smokescreen, forced 11th Royal Fusiliers back to a position 200 yards east of Clapham Junction where they were reinforced by HQ men. Here they stayed fighting off two more counter attacks until, late that evening 53 Brigade took over the divisional front. It had been a very bad day for 11th Royal Fusiliers who suffered nearly 350 casualties for very little gain. One of those killed was Arthur Gee.”
Arthur William Gee is buried at Hooge Crater Cemetery where there were originally 76 graves. After the Armistice the cemetery was expanded with bodies brought from smaller graveyards and the surrounding battlefields. There are now over 5916 men either buried or commemorated. Of these 3570 burials remain unidentified and there are also a number of other special memorials. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. Hooge Chateau and stables were the location of fierce fighting during WW1 and switched hands several times throughout the war.
Arthur is also remembered on both the Board of Trade War Memorial and the Patent Office War Memorial. He is named on the Gee family gravestone located at Chingford Mount Cemetery in north-east London.
Board of Trade War Memorial 