George Donald Lennox was born on 24th October 1898 in Dublin, the eldest son of Albert George Lennox (Printer) and Elizabeth Mary Lennox, nee Gilbert. He had two brothers, Albert and David and a sister Winifred. David Lennox was my grandfather. David had two children, Elizabeth, mother of my cousins Dorothy and Grace, and a son, Kenneth, my dad!
Like many of his generation George signed up to fight in the Great War underage. He joined the Irish Guards. The story goes that several attempts were made to bring him home before his death in the fields around Ayette on 26th May 1918, aged 19.
There is little that we know surrounding the circumstances of how he died. We have been told that he had volunteered to help repair telegraph wires.
The War Records of the regiment at the time have the regiment in Ayette creating outposts; on 26th they were on the front line at Ayette. There is also a mention of a raid on a Gerry post. I probably should have researched this before I came away, and over the last few days, googling birth records, down loading war records etc I wish I had! They make interesting reading…
Visiting the cemetery on the 100th anniversary of his death was a very moving and “weird” experience. We have passed so many cemeteries… sitting at the side of the road or in the middle of a field. Ayette sits off the road but in the middle of a farmyard!! Yet it was so peaceful and serene.
The village of Ayette remained in British hands from March 1916 to 27 March 1918, when it was captured by the enemy. It was the scene of fighting by the Guard’s on 28th and retaken by the 32nd Division on the 3rd April. The cemetery was made by fighting units in March-June 1918 and 54 souls are buried here. In the picture above George is three rows back on the left-hand side and second headstone in.
H&P Adventures 
He looks like a wee boy. But a hero.
LikeLiked by 1 person