Oakes, GFT
(1883 - 1916)
Key Facts
DATE OF BIRTH:
11th February 1883
YEARS ATTENDED THE COLLEGE:
1897 - 1900
HOME ADDRESS WHEN AT THE COLLEGE:
Knockwood, Shortlands
REGIMENT
Royal Engineers
FINAL RANK:
Captain
DATE OF DEATH:
15th July 1916
AGE AT DEATH:
33
WHERE HE DIED (or was wounded)
Ovilliers-la-Boiselle, Somme
LOCATION OF GRAVE OR MEMORIAL:
Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-L'Abbe. I B 38
Captain George Frederick Thomas Oakes
George was born on February 11th 1883, the middle of three children of Alfred Oakes, who worked for an import/export merchants, and his wife, Marian. He came to the College in the summer of 1897, and during his three years at Dulwich was a boarder in the Orchard. After leaving he went on to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, passing out in December 1901 to take a commission in the Royal Engineers. In January 1904 he transferred to India and shortly afterwards was promoted to Lieutenant. He eventually joined the Indian Survey Department and was mentioned in dispatches for his role in the Abor Expedition of 1911-12. He was subsequently promoted to Captain and went on to perform valuable survey work in the Eastern Himalayas, especially around the Dehang Valley.
After war broke out in Europe George was called back to England in October 1914 and was involved in the creation of the 77th Company, Royal Engineers. The following July the unit was assigned to the Ypres salient, before later being reassigned to Vimy, and subsequently to the Somme. Early in the morning of July 15th he was supervising the digging of a communication trench near Ovilliers-la-Boiselle, when he was mortally wounded, dying later that day. He was survived by his widow, Nellie, and their daughter.
