22441 Pte George Feast, 5th Bn, Royal Irish Fusiliers

22441 Private George Feast of the 5th Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers was killed in action on the 8th December 1915. George was 49 years old when he died; the son of Robert William and Eliza Feast, and the husband of F G Feast of 13, Caroline Place, East Road, Cambridge.

George, who was born in Ely and living in Hereford when he enlisted, originally joined the Bedfordshire Regiment (number 16491). That number dates to September 1914 and his Royal Irish Fusiliers number probably to October 1915.

George's medal index card notes that he arrived overseas in France on 3rd December 1914 and so it seems likely that he probably had prior military experience and was possibly a time-expired regular who re-joined shortly after Britain went to war. I can see no other explanation why a 48 year old private would be sent overseas so soon after joining up. I'll conjecture further that George was wounded or returned home sick whilst serving with the Bedfordshire Regiment in France, transferred to the Royal Irish Fusiliers in the United Kingdom, and subsequently served in Salonika. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Doiran Memorial in Greece.