Royal Naval Air Service
George Geoffrey Allen Armitage was born on 4 June 1893, at Gloucester, the son of Henry and Katherine Armitage of The Nab, Newnham on Severn. His father was a solicitor and Clerk to the Gloucester Board of Guardians.
His early career was in the Merchant Navy and he gained his Second Mate’s Certificate covering ocean going voyages on 21 November 1913. He joined the Royal Navy as Sub-Lieutenant on 4 August 1915 and transferred to the Royal Naval Air Service on 19 October 1915, as a Probationary Flight SubLieutenant.
George Armitage died as the result of a flying accident at Hendon aerodrome on the evening of 11 December 1915, the accident occurring earlier in the day. He was 22 years of age. At the inquest the jury returned a verdict of death from misadventure.
His body was conveyed to Newnham by rail and his funeral held on 15 December at St Peter’s Church. A plaque inside St Peter’s Church, Newnham reads: To the Glory of God and in the Memory of Prob. Flight Sub-Lt. Geoffrey Allen Armitage R.N. late of the Merchant Service. Killed while flying on duty at Hendon Dec 11. 1915. Age 22. Blessed are the pure in heart.
The accident and funeral was reported in the Gloucestershire Journal of 18 December 1915:
Death of Flight-Lieut. Geoffrey Armitage FATAL FLYING ACCIDENT AT HENDON We regret to learn that Flight-Lieutenant George Geoffrey Allen Armitage, eldest son of Mr. H. Allen Armitage, Clerk to the Gloucester Board of Guardians, met with an accident whilst flying at Hendon Saturday, and died from his injuries the same night. Lieutenant Armitage was 22 years of age, and only recently received his commission in the Royal Naval Air Service. An inquiry was held at Hendon on Monday when the jury returned a verdict of death from misadventure, and passed a vote of sympathy with the relatives.
His grave is marked by a stone cross which had become weathered and the wording unreadable: the CWGC has now placed a standard headstone near to it.
Researched by Graham Adams 3 November 2013
(Acknowledgement to Heroes Remembered by Ray
Westlake, in Stand To!, the Journal of the Western
Front Association No 64, April 2002)