Lodge of Amity No.283

• Occupation: Hairdresser
• Address: Swan Hotel, Haslingden
• Age when Initiated: 26
• Date of Initiation: 6 August 1914
• Date of Passing: 3 September 1914
• Date of Raising: 1 October 1914

British Army (WWI 1914 - 1918)

• Rank: Gunner
• Initials: G
• Surname: Bullock
• Killed in action: 15 September 1918
• Age: 30
• Service Arm: Royal Garrison Artillery

Extract from the History of Amity Lodge No.283 1791 to 1920 compiled by Bro R.V.S.Houghton, PM, PPGSD East Lancs.

17 October 1918:
"The WM moved and the Rev. Bro. Capt. T. Miller Johnson, Chaplain, seconded, that we place a record on the Minutes of our appreciation of Bro. Gabriel Bullock, who gave his life in action in the Great War, at Rowel (possibly Roisel), in France, on September 15th 1918, and who was buried at Vincent Military Cemetery, near Peronne, France. Also that a Photo of the deceased be procured, framed and hung on the wall of the Lodge."

From the Lodge archives

 

 

We do not know when Bro Bullock was "called up" or even if he volunteered to serve, but from the speed of getting him through to the Degree of a Master Mason, it would suggests that it was probably imminent.

• Initiated: 6 August 1914 - Aged 26 years
• Passed to the Second-Degree: 3 September 1914
• Raised to the Third-Degree: 1 October 1914

• Killed in action: 15 September 1918 - Aged 30 years

Important information

There are some discrepancies in the recording of Bro Gabriel Bullock's death:

• Lodge records list him as being 30 years old and buried at Vincent Military Cemetery near Peronne, France.
• The Local Press list him as 29 years old and buried at Tincourt New British Cemetery, whilst in the same article his Officer indicates that he is buried at Trucourt Military Cemetery.
• However, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission have Gabriel Bullock listed as aged 30 and buried at Tincourt New British Cemetery, Plot V (5), Row E, Number 21.

The confusion over his resting place could be that during the chaos of War those fallen soldiers very often remained on the Battlefield and were buried where they fell, or sometimes buried in a burial plot nearby. They would have been transferred and re-interred later in an Official Military Cemetery. However, what ever the confusion, the Commonwealth War Grave Commission do have his final resting place listed. RIP