George Henry Walford was born on 3rd November 1878 in Leeds, Yorkshire, where his father was stationed in the army. He was educated at Rugby and, on leaving, went to the Royal Military College Sandhurst. George graduated from the college in 1898, having won the Anson Memorial Sword and Queen Victoria’s Gold Medal for being the highest ranked cadet in his year. He was commissioned into the Suffolk Regiment, becoming Lieutenant in January 1900.

George was a career soldier and, after service in Somaliland, he was promoted to Captain and was made adjutant of his battalion. In 1911, he was sent to the staff college and, two years later, was made secretary to the Manoeuvres Commission. In April 1914, George was attached to the General Staff, Southern Command and was made Brigade Major. After the war started, he was appointed Brigade Major of the 84th Brigade, 28th Division which comprised of the 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers, 1st Suffolks, 2nd Cheshire and 1st Welsh Regiments. The division was mobilised and embarked from Southampton, arriving in Le Havre between the 16th and 19th January 1915. From there they were sent to the Bailleul and Hazebrouck area near Ypres in Belgium.

On 18th April 1915, the 84th Brigade was in the Zonnebeek area and George was sent on a reconnaissance to Broodsneide to record his observations. His written report described the situation in the village: the damage to the cottages, the craters left by the impact of Minenwerfer (Mortar), the state of the breastwork defences and sightings of the enemy. He finishes his report:

“The reconnaissance was cursory, and the ground was strange to me and is very confused.”

 The following morning, George was once more on the front line with the 1st Battalion Welsh Regiment. The 84th Brigade Headquarter’s war diary says:

“6:30 am. The Brigade Major, Major G H Walford, was killed while observing from Trench 21”

 After George’s death, General Sir H. L. Smith-Dorrien, Commander of the British Second Army, wrote:

“His loss is a great one to the cause, for he was a splendid Staff Officer, and a gallant soldier.”

Another General said of him:  

“It was a real joy to serve with him, and he is a gallant example to us all of a good friend, a good soldier, and a good man in every sense.” One of his fellow staff officers wrote: " He had done magnificent work out here, and all who came in contact with him loved him. His loss is deplored, not only by the Brigade, but by the whole Division. He was a brave man and a good man."

For his actions that day, Major George Walford was mentioned in Sir John French’s Despatch of 31st May 1915. For his war service, his wife, Inez and son Richard, who was born in 1913, received the 1914-15 Star and the British War and Victory Medal with Oakleaf Clasp. George is buried at Ramparts Cemetery, Ypres.

His headstone bears the inscription:

"The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God.”