Hearson, GN
(1894 - 1918)
Key Facts
DATE OF BIRTH:
13th August 1894
YEARS ATTENDED THE COLLEGE:
1907 - 1909
HOME ADDRESS WHEN AT THE COLLEGE:
5 Chatsworth Road, West Norwood
REGIMENT
1/4th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment (Territorial Force)
FINAL RANK:
Private
DATE OF DEATH:
21st September 1918
AGE AT DEATH:
24
WHERE HE DIED (or was wounded)
Bideford
LOCATION OF GRAVE OR MEMORIAL:
Westleigh (St. Peter) Churchyard, Devon
Private George Neville Hearson
George was born on August 13th 1894, the youngest of three sons amongst the five children of stationer Richard Hearson and his wife, Florence. Not only would all three boys go on to attend the College, but their sister Winifred would also go on to marry a fellow OA, Arthur Girvan. George started at Dulwich in the summer of 1907, and was a pupil for two years, leaving in the summer of 1909 to attend a boarding school in Devon. After finishing his education he took up employment with a firm of land agents based in Exeter.
Within a month of the declaration of war in the late summer of 1914 George had enlisted as a Private in the Devonshire Regiment, with whom he went to out to Ferozepore in India. During the next year he turned down a commission on two occasions, preferring to remain as a Private. In March 1916 he fell ill and was diagnosed with tuberculosis, as a result returning to England the following month and being discharged from the Army. After over two years of illness he passed away at his home in Bideford, Devon, on September 21st 1918. His elder brother, Richard, a fellow OA, had been killed in action on the Western Front earlier that year.
