Fisher, George
Private
No. 724696, 38th Battalion, Canadian Infantry (Eastern Ontario Regiment)
Died of wounds on Monday 16 April 1917 (aged 28)
Buried:
Belfast (Dundonald) Cemetery, Co. Down (Grave F5. 501)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Canadian Virtual War Memorial (CVWM)
Canadian First World War Book of Remembrance
Journey of Remembering Belfast Book of Honour
Brother of Stoker First Class Hugh Fisher (No. K/33119)
BIOGRAPHY
George Fisher was born on 24 August 1888 at 39 Keegan Street, Belfast and he was a son of George and Jane Fisher (nee McGrattan) who were married on 15 October 1887 in St Malachy’s Roman Catholic Church Belfast. George Fisher from 6 Stewart Street, Belfast was a son of George Fisher, a brewer. Jane McGrattan from 6 Stewart Street, Belfast was a daughter of Peter McGrattan, a labourer.
George Fisher Senior worked as a carter and he and Jane had three children:
George (born 24 August 1888 at 39 Keegan Street, Belfast)
Hugh Joseph (born 30 January 1890 at 20 St Pancras Street, Belfast)
Mary Catherine (born 25 March 1893 at 108 Halliday’s Road, Belfast)
The Fisher family lived in Belfast at 39 Keegan Street; at 20 St Pancras Street and at 20 Collyer Street.
George Fisher Senior was 27 when he died of heart disease on 6 November 1892 – some four months before his daughter Mary was born.
Jane Fisher was working as a servant in the townland of Craigarodden, Portaferry when she and John Berry were married on 1 May 1900 in Ballyphilip Roman Catholic Church Portaferry. John Berry from Ballyquinton, Portaferry worked as a labourer and he was a son of Robert Berry, a grocer.
John and Jane Berry lived in the townlands of Tara, Ballymarter and Keentagh, Quintin, Portaferry and they had five children:
Sarah Jane (Jennie, born 27 December 1900)
Thomas John (born 15 March 1902 in Ballymarter)
Dominick (born 23 September 1903 in Ballymarter; died of tetanus on 4 October 1903 aged 11 days)
Dominick (born 1 September 1905 in Ballymarter)
Isabella (born 8 August 1908)
George was the first of the two Fisher brothers to die in the Great War.
George Fisher worked as a labourer and he and Elizabeth Fisher were married on 19 August 1912 in St Anne’s Church of Ireland Church Belfast. Both were living in Durham Street, Belfast and Elizabeth was a daughter of James Fisher, a labourer.
George and Elizabeth Fisher (nee Fisher) lived at 67 Lord Street, Belfast.
Their son, James Graham Allen Fisher, was born on 11 March 1913 at 67 Lord Street, Belfast.
George Fisher moved to Canada and on 7 December 1915 he enlisted in Lindsay, Ontario. In his attestation papers, it was noted that he was 5 feet 8 inches tall with a fair complexion, blue eyes and dark brown hair. He cited as his next-of-kin his wife Elizabeth of 67 Lord Street, Belfast.
After Private George Fisher was wounded in action at Vimy Ridge (9 to 12 April 1917) he was transferred to England for treatment. He was 28 when died in hospital in Farnham on 16 April 1917 and he was buried on 21 April 1917 in Dundonald Cemetery, Belfast. There is an inscription on his CWGC headstone:
SO HE GIVETH HIS BELOVED SLEEP
Private George Fisher is commemorated in the Belfast Book of Honour (Page 191).