▶Date of birth: (baptised) 10 November 1831         Place of birth: Farnham, Surrey

▶Father:   Francis George West     Mother: Frances Green

▶Spouse(s):   Mary Ann Thorp Dickson   Date(s) of marriage: 10 September 1861      Place(s) of marriage: Alnwick, Northumberland

▶Occupation: Clergyman (Anglican)

▶Lifestory: George was the son of Barrister Francis George West, JP and Deputy Lieutenant, of Bletchingley, Surrey, and his wife Frances (née Green). He matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, BA 1853, MA 1855, and was ordained Deacon (Lichfield) in 1854, and Priest in 1855. In 1854 he was licensed as Curate of Wombourne and Trysull, Staffordshire, and in 1856 became Curate of Thaxted, Essex 1856-60. He subsequently moved north, to become Curate of Ryton, County Durham 1860 (when he received an MA ad eundem from Durham), and in 1861 he married Mary Anne, youngest daughter of William Dickson, of Alnwick and Alnmouth, and Clerk of the Peace for Northumberland.

He then became Curate in Charge of Rothbury, Northumberland 1863-71; in 1864 he was appointed Surrogate for granting marriage licences within the diocese, and he promoted popular Penny Readings in the parish, at one singing “Johnny, I hardly knew you”, to his wife’s accompaniment on the piano. From 1871 he served as Perpetual Curate of Grange in Borrowdale and Curate in Charge of Rosthwaite 1871-3. He was appointed Vicar of Borrowdale 1873-5, and Rector of Scaleby, near Carlisle 1875-6. After this he moved back to Thaxted, where he qualified as a Magistrate in 1876, sitting often on the Dunmow bench.

He leased Apsley Lodge on Pittville Circus with his family from 1880 until 1883, before returning Thaxted, where in 1895 he was elected to Essex County Council, strongly advocating the light-railway scheme between Elsenham and Thaxted. He died in Bath, where he resorted for the benefit of his health, in 1897, at the age of sixty-six. His wealth at death sworn at under £5,900.

▶Moved to Pittville from:        Moved from Pittville to: Thaxted, Essex

▶Date of death:   10 May 1897     Place of death: 30 Pulteney Street, Bath

▶Date of burial: 14 May 1897        Place of burial: Thaxted churchyard

▶Notes:        ID: 6989

Contributor(s):  John Simpson/Alan Munden