Early Life :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

31 July - 10 November 1917. By the summer of 1917 the British Army was able for the first time to fight on its chosen ground on its terms. Having secured the southern ridges of Ypres at Messines in June, the main attack started on 31st July 1917 accompanied by what seemed like incessant heavy rain, which coupled with the artillery barrages conspired to turn much of the battlefield into a bog. Initial failure prompted changes in the high command and a strategy evolved to take the ring of ridges running across the Ypres salient in a series of 'bite and hold' operations, finally culminating in the capture of the most easterly ridge on which sat the infamous village of Passchendaele. The Official History carries the footnote ?The clerk power to investigate the exact losses was not available? but estimates of British casualties range from the official figure of 244,000 to almost 400,000. Within five months the Germans pushed the British back to the starting line, which was where they had been since May 1915.

Detail :

The Medal Roll Index shows George first served with the Liverpool Pals as a Private before gaining a Commission with the 23 Service Battalion The Manchester Regiment. It also says he arrived in France in the January of 1916. The London Gazette of 24 February has "23rd Battalion (8th City) Manchester Regiment, George Edward Simpson to be temp Lt dated 21 January 1915". George joined his battalion at Morecambe, and in June they were moved to Masham, Yorkshire, then onto Salisbury Plain in August. On 30 January George and his comrades left Folkestone to disembark at Boulogne in France.

Moving around France the Battalion like many others found itself in the Somme area ready for the “Big Push” at the end of June 1916. This had to be delayed due to weather conditions until 1 July, which is now known as the first day of the Battle of the Somme. George and his Battalion were not immediately involved but did not have to wait long. The first report of George being directly involved is the attack by his battalion south of Trones Wood on 20 July when as part of the 35th Division they left Maltz Hom Farm at 11.30 a.m. to attack the German lines. By all accounts the plan began to unravel immediately due to the late arrival of some of the troops. As the first wave had already gone forward the others went forward with no clear plan either to direction or objective and all were met with enemy artillery and machine gun fire. Unable to progress successfully they eventually had to return to their starting point to re-group and consolidate.

For George and the Battalion the attack had been a disaster with the loss of their commanding officer Major Maxwell, Captain Gosling, and Captain Jacob (Jack) Eustace Rothband to whom George was a subaltern. George himself was wounded but still found time to immediately write a personal letter to Jacob Rothband’s family. (A picture of this letter is shown in Michael Stedman’s superbly researched book “Manchester Pals”, which is indispensable for those interested in these battalions). At the end of the letter George says “When I get leave I will come personally and give you further details of my beloved Company Commander and true friend”. Jacob was the Senior Deacon of OLD MANCUNIAN’S LODGE No 3140 in the Province of East Lancashire.

I believe George must have spoken with Jacob’s brother Baron, who was serving nearby at this time, as Baron describes in a letter to another brother Louis, graphic detail regarding Jacob’s death. This closely resembles a report given on the 20th July attributed to Lt. George Simpson in which he wrote; “We were in Trones Wood waiting for the order to attack, the men were very shaky after being heavily shelled, Captain Jack mounted the parapet and walked along it to rally the men, at 11.30 in the morning we began our attack, we got about 500yds from the wood, when Captain Jack was hit in the head by a bullet ,just after shouting to the men "come on lads, don’t be afraid of their guns", he died instantly, he was later found 500yds south of Trones Wood and buried by a party of the 20th Lancs Fusiliers”.
Besides losing Major Maxwell and Captain’s Rothband and Gosling, the Battalion reports Major Grimshaw, Captain Cooper, Lieutenant Wilson and 2nd Lieutenants Hamer, Simpson and Tye wounded. (2nd Lieutenant Tye died of his wounds on the following day). In addition twenty other ranks were killed with 107 wounded and thirteen missing.

The battalion remained involved in the Somme arena but by the end of September or beginning of October they had been moved to the area around Arras. Alternating between front line duties they were kept busy on trench raids or road repairs etc when in reserve until on the move again around the Peronne area until by October 1917 they moved to the Flanders frontline in Belgium just north of the Ypres Salient. On the evening of 21st October the men assembled on a terribly cold night with poring rain on an already desolate and destroyed landscape, complete with mud filled shell holes, and denuded woods after previous battles. Here at 5.45 on the morning of the 22nd the men fanned out to attack northwards into Houthulst Forrest. The attack started on time with artillery support which used a tactic known as the creeping barrage, which moved forward at the rate of 100 yards per minute, in theory the infantry following it forward. However the barrage also signalled to the Germans that an attack was in progress, to which their artillery responded and their aircraft sent out to harass the advancing infantry. Two and a half hours from the start of the attack the 23rd Manchester’s were all but decimated, all the Officers involved either killed or wounded and the battalion down to just fifty other ranks. Sadly George, who had previously been promoted to Captain lost his life sometime during those few hours, and his body was never recovered.

The Index for Wills and probate has; Simpson, George Edward of 10 Duncan Street, Liverpool. Captain 23rd Battalion Manchester Regiment died 22 October 1917 in France or Belgium. Probate 17 January 1918 to Mary Emson Millar widow. Effects £483 2s 10d.

George is commemorated on Panel 40 of the memorial in Liverpool Town Hall, on the Liverpool Masonic Hall Memorial, Hope Street, on the Scroll of Honour, Freemasons’ Hall, London, and in the Roll of Honour Book published by United Grand Lodge in 1921. His name is also on the massive Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing near Ieper in Belgium.

Masonic :

George was initiated into LIVERPOOL LODGE No 1547 on 1st April, 1914, a 21 year old Clerk residing at 10 Duncan Street, Liverpool. Three years of war service is included on his line in the contribution register, followed by "Killed in Action 23rd Oct./17."

It was reported to Liverpool Lodge at the November meeting that George had been killed in action, and the secretary sent a letter of condolence to his family, a copy of which was placed within the lodge minute book. The Provincial Return Sheet for 1918 has “killed in action France”.

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley
• Researcher : Geoff Cuthill