8th December 2015 George Frederick Greaves – 52 North Street George Frederick Greaves was the only child of John Joseph and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Greaves living in 3 rooms at 52 North Street. In 1901 they were living at 12 Tenter Lane and the census said all three were born in Stamford however the 1911 census form was completed by Elizabeth and she says she was born in Worcester. In 1911 John Joseph was a Labourer and George Frederick was an errand boy for a grocery and provisions shop but he later worked as a sawyer. Within two weeks of the outbreak of war he signed up and joined the 5th Northants Regiment at Northampton on 24th August aged 20 years and 2 months. He was 5ft 7ins and weighed 136lbs (9 stone) so was slight but little different to others joining up however he must not have been in good health. After 53 days service he was discharged on Oct 6th under the King’s Regulations 392 section iii c) which says that a soldier can be discharged within 3 months of enlistment if he is considered unfit for service and not likely to become an efficient soldier. Presumably he returned to Stamford because six weeks later he turned up at Grantham applying to join the Lincolnshire Regiment. On his Attestation Form he answered all the questions in the same way as before, including his parents’ names and address, only giving his own name as Frederick George instead of George Frederick. He answers ‘No’ to the question asking if he has served in the armed forces before! On 22nd Nov 1914 he joined up at Lincoln and on the 1st Dec he was posted to the 3rd Lincolnshire Regiment. This time he managed to serve 251 days before being discharged under King’s Regulations 392 section xvi ‘No longer physically fit for service’. His disability was described as shortness of breath making it impossible for him to march etc and it was attributed to ‘Faulty development – congenital or in childhood’. The medical report says that this was first noticed playing cricket in June or July 1914 – in other words before he joined up the first time. No further details have been found about his life after he was discharged the second time but perhaps he was the George F Greaves who died at Grantham in 1933 aged 38 years.