Lance Corporal George William Bennett was a stretcher bearer and died a week after being injured by a piece of shrapnel. He was born in Suffolk where his family were thatchers. He moved to Rutland and in 1911, aged 19, and was living and working at Burley House as a farm labourer alongside his father, and where he met his wife Lavinia. When war broke out the couple were living in Mill Yard, Oakham. George enlisted in the 7th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment on 12 April 1916. He was injured in the Somme area in early December 1916 and died a few days later. He is buried in the British Military Cemetery at Contay, grave VIII.E.25. His widow, known as Ginny, moved to South Street in Oakham and was left to bring up their son Jack and a boy she had had from another relationship, Billy. Her great granddaughter Lauretta Pearson told us: "I am very proud of Great Granddad as he was a pacifist and would not take up arms, but helped by carrying stretchers. Because of this, he didn't get paid, so Gran had to wash and darn dresses from dawn until very late into the night to feed her and her boys and pay the rent. She was an amazing woman and never married again." See also below. George is remembered on Oakham's war memorial.