Enlisted at Northampton, born and resided at Rushden. George enlisted as Sapper 2870 in the Royal Engineers, and was 19 years 11 months old when he was examined on 11th August 1915. A Certificate of Trade Proficiency as a "good carpenter" was signed by his employer, Samuel Wm Clayton of 92 Park Road, Rushden. He was 5' 6¾" tall, chest 35" (2" expansion), of good physical development. On 30th December 1916 he was sent to France, and at Rouen he was transferred to the Cheshire Regiment against his wishes, on 4th January 1917, and 11 days later joined the 16th Battalion. His mother Elizabeth returned his Memorial Plaque and Scroll saying "if it showed the Royal Engineers and not the Cheshire Regiment" she would accept it.

George Ernest Priestley

George was the second child and eldest son of George and Elizabeth Priestley, born in 1897.  George senior and Elizabeth both came from Barton-in-the-Beans in Leicestershire and moved to Rushden on their marriage in 1893 in order to find work. They lived at 34 Albion Place throughout their married life. George junior enlisted in the 16th Battalion the Cheshire Regiment early in the Great War and was reported Missing Believed Killed in Action in France in October 1917, and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot memorial near Ypres in Belgium. George's elder sister Elsie also died in the Great War. There were four other siblings — Nellie, who married Cyril Neville and had one son Richard; Maud, who married Sydney Sumpter, no children; Lizzie, who married Charles Edmund (Eddie) Ekins and had three children, Eddie Junior, Bob (deceased) and Mary; and Leslie, who married Sylvia Margaret Bailey and had one son, David (deceased).

Mr and Mrs Priestley of Albion-place, Rushden, have this week received official notice to say that nothing further has been heard of their son, George, who has been reported wounded and missing since Oct. 22nd, 1917. The Army Council now presume that he died on that date or since. He enlisted in August 1915, in the Royal Engineers.