8th Battalion, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)
Killed in action on Friday, 30th March 1917, aged 26
Personal Information:
George Stanley Reffell was born in 1891 at Tunbridge Wells, the son of Alexander Reffell (1858-1947) and Lucy Maria Vinall (1857-1908), and was baptised at the Holy Trinity Tunbridge Wells on 31 May 1891. He was the fourth of five brothers, three of whom died in childhood. The other brother was Arthur Sidney Reffell (1897-1992) who served as a private in the Royal Sussex Regiment.
In 1911 he was living at Eltham Kent and working for the South Eastern & Chatham Railway as a ‘railway number taker’.
George Stanley married Amy Bromley in 1914 at Maidstone. At the time of George’s death, Amy was living at Marshall’s Cottages in Maidstone. Also there was their young son George Arthur Luther Reffell (1916-2004).
Historical Information:
From the March 1917 War Diary of the 8th Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment:-
1 March: Busnette, training
3 March: Fouquereuil, billets
4 March: Bully Grenay front line trenches, relieved 14th Canadian Battalion
8 March: Trenches, relieved by 1st Battalion Staffordshire Regiment
9 March: Calonne, supplied working and carrying parties
14 March: Trenches, relieved 1st Battalion Staffordshire Regiment
18 March: Trenches, attempted raid by Germans, repulsed without casualties, four Germans killed
20 March: Bully Grenay, relieved by 1st Battalion Staffordshire Regiment
21 March: Bully Grenay, Working and carrying parties supplied daily
26 March: Trenches, relieved 1st Battalion Staffordshire Regiment
28 March: Trenches, two more Lewis guns received, this completes establishment of 16 per battalion
Casualties during month: Officers – none, Other Ranks – kia 1, killed acc – 1, wounded in action – 15, wounded acc – 4, wounded sl (at duty) – 4.
Cemetery & Memorial:
1) Grave I D 8 Bully-Grenay Communal Cemetery, France
2) Tunbridge Wells War Memorial
