| Name: | George Ferrier Weir |
|---|---|
| Nationality: | United Kingdom joined Indian Army. |
| Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Regiment/Service: | Special List of Quartermasters, Indian Army |
| Age: | 49 |
| Born: | 2nd February 1893 |
| Date of Death: | 28/08/1942 |
| Service No: | EC/4619 |
| Casualty Type: | Commonwealth War Dead. |
| Grave/Memorial Ref: | 2. C. 13. |
| Cemetery: | Delhi War Cemetery, India. |
| Additional information: | Son of David and Rachel Weir (nee Ferrier), husband of Mollie Elizabeth Weir. |
| (Top)George Ferrier pictured in India in 1931 | |
| George Ferrier Weir was born in Toberhead, Castledawson, the second son of five children. The middle name of Ferrier seems to have been adopted during the 1930’s. He married Mollie Elizabeth, but his wife died in July 1937. There was one child, Violet, who married but had no children. | |
| George joined the 10th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers on 29th September 1914. His regimental number was 3153. He served in France from November 1915 until the end of the war by which time he had been promoted to sergeant. His service record papers like so many WWI records were destroyed in the blitz in London during WWII. The medal lists show him as receiving the usual Victory Medal and the British Campaign Medal. There is a remark that they were ‘forfeited under Art. 1236 Warrant as amended by Army Order 298 of 1920’. This could have happened if he caused a civil disturbance by fighting in public. The medals were normally reinstated later. He continued in the Inniskillings and in the late 1920’s accompanied the 1st Battalion to India and made such a name for himself at the Indian Small Arms School that he eventually went there as a Staff Instructor. Posted to the Indian Auxiliary Regiment with the rank of W.O. Class II he remained with that Corps for close on ten years and finished this period of service attached to an Indian Army Cadet Unit as W.O. Class I. After a few months at home, war broke out and he was recalled to India sailing from Greenock on 3rd March 1939, arriving in Bombay on the 18th September 1939. He served as a regimental Sergeant Major in the 4th Lahore Battalion UTC ITF Lahore from 18th September 1939 to 31st May 1941. He was then put on the ‘Special List’ of Quartermasters of the Indian Army and given an Emergency Commission as Lieutenant. His number was EC/4619. He died on 28th August 1942 of ‘apoplexy’. His last posting was O.C. POW Camp Clement Town Dehra Dun U.P. India. (The Indian Service information comes from a 1946 claim by his daughter for his War Gratuity. On 9th January 1947 she received £22-10-0 for his service as Lieutenant. | |
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| The memorial to George Ferrier Weir on the first floor in the War Memorial Hall in Castledawson. He is also listed among those who served during World War I on the main Ulster Volunteer memorial and on the World War I memorial in Curran Presbyterian church. |