George Bates (1887-1915)

George Bates was born on 22 August 1887 in Toronto, Ontario, to Stephen Bates and Lizzie Brooks.

He moved to British Columbia and married Katherine Dacre in Victoria in 1912. The couple moved to Port Coquitlam, where George worked as a machinist. He enlisted on 12 November 1914 and was sent to Shorncliffe base in Kent, a large camp only 20 miles from France that was a stopping point for many Canadian soldiers.

On 25 August 1915, George ate a “poorly cooked stew and banana not quite ripe” for supper and awoke at 1am with pain in his abdomen. The next few days were spent in hospital, vomiting and generally getting worse. By 30 August, the doctor found his “general condition is one of collapse” and he was immediately sent to the operating table. “After a small amount of anesthetic, respiration and pulse ceased.”  He was resuscitated and taken back to bed. His pulse was still struggling in the morning and his hands were cold, although “mentally very bright”.

George died on 31 August 1915, aged 28. The autopsy showed a perforated gastric ulcer, which lead to peritonitis.

Note: Some websites say George’s parents were "Norman and Sally Bates, of Mena, Arkansas", but I haven’t found any proof of that, so I’m using the names he provided on his marriage certificate. Katherine never remarried, but had a daughter with the Bates surname in 1918.