George Henry Hill
Date of birth: 14.9.1923
Date of death: 6.1.1945
Area: Wrenthorpe, Wakefield
Regiment: Royal Naval Patrol Service
Family information: Husband of Eva Hill nee Mincher
Rank: Stoker
Service number: LT/KX163634
War Service
This could be George Henry Hill who was Stoker LT/KX163634 in the Royal Naval Patrol Service who was killed on the 6th January 1945. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission his parents were Joseph R Hill and Alice Hill and he was husband of Eva Hill. Joseph and Alice Hill had George Henry on 14th September 1923 in Ryhill.
In the electoral register I found a Joseph Redvers Hill living in Havercroft with his wife Alice up to 1933. In 1934 he was still there but on his own and I found no deaths for an Alice Hill. I did, however, find an Alice Hill in Wrenthorpe who appears in 1934 living at 103, Potovens Lane and who was living there in 1935 and 1936. In 1937 and subsequent years she was living at 99, Wrenthorpe Road (which may be the same house just renumbered as I believe Wrenthorpe Road used to be called Potovens). According to the 1939 Register, Alice lived there as a widow with four other people – George, who was a Driller Engineer’s Apprentice and Stanley born in 1927 and the other two are closed records.
In 1944 George married Eva Mincher in the Wakefield District and I believe they may have had a daughter born later that year.
According to the British Army and Navy Birth Marriage and Death records, George was attached to HMS Forte which was the naval base at Falmouth when he was accidently drowned in Flushing Falmouth.
The Wakefield Express of the 3rd February 1945 published a report into his death:
“DEATH OF A SANDAL NAVAL STOKER – Mrs G Hill, of Emblem Terrace, Portobello Road, Sandal, has received official news of the death of her husband Stoker G Hill of the Royal Naval Patrol Service. He was returning to his ship on the night of 6th January by rowing boat when the wash from a passing vessel caused his boat to capsize. There were three others in the boat with him and they were all saved, but nothing could be found of Stoker Hill, although a two hour search was made with lights. Before joining the Navy he worked for Lowery’s, Kirkgate and before his marriage lived at Wrenthorpe.”
George is buried in the Falmouth Cemetery, Cornwall.
Falmouth Cemetery
