Memorials & Monuments
on the Isle of Wight
- Biography -
- George Allan Barfoot -

ISLE OF WIGHT MERCURY

Friday, March 19, 1915 Page 1

Mr. Barfoot's son, George Allen Barfoot, who was expected home this week, but whose leave was cancelled at the last moment, has obtained a commission in the 1st battalion Worcester regiment, which has been in the thick of the fighting. Lieut. Barfoot has been at the front since October, and was naturally looking forward to a few days' rest. Five of his colleagues of the Artists' Rifles Officers' Training Corps have also been posted to the same battalion.

ISLE OF WIGHT MERCURY

Friday, June 25, 1915 Page 5

Mr. and Mrs. Barfoot received telegraphic information on Wednesday evening that their only son, Lieut. Alan Barfoot, was killed in action on June 21st. The news caused feelings of regret at the death of this gallant young officer and profound sympathy with the bereaved family. Lieut. Barfoot received his commission in the 5th Worcester regiment early this year, being at the time a private in the Artists' Rifle Corps. He subsequently went to the front, and had been right in the thick of the recent heavy fighting in Flanders. His regiment suffered heavily by the loss of officers - in fact, very few of them remain. His letters home have breathed a fine spirit of endurance and courage, which, combined with their deeply spiritual tone, have been of much comfort to his parents. He was a very kind- hearted and considerate officer, always seeking the highest welfare of those under him. On several occasions he has sent home money for the purchase of comforts for his men. Now he has laid down his life in the highest service, and this thought must be a great solace to those who knew and loved him most, the very deepest condolence of all classes will be expressed with the bereaved ones in this hour of suffering and loss. In private life Lieut. Barfoot had been for some time in the Surveyor's Department of the London County Council. - Mr. and Mrs. Barfoot and family desire to return their sincerest thanks for the many kind expressions of sympathy they have received, to which it is at the time impossible to reply individually.

ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY PRESS

Saturday, June 26, 1915 Page 1

Killed in action &c. BARFOOT. - Killed in action in Flanders on June 21st, Lieut. Alan Barfoot, 3rd Worcestershire Regiment, only son of Mr. and Mrs. Barfoot, of Ventnor.

Page 8

THE ISLAND AND THE WAR
KILLED
Lt. Alan Barfoot, 3rd Worcestershire Regt. (Ventnor)

VENTNOR
VENTNOR OFFICER'S DEATH
Mr. and Mrs. Barfoot received telegraphic information on Wednesday that their only son, Lieut. Alan Barfoot, of the 3rd Worcestershire Regiment, was killed in action in Flanders on June 21st. He was formerly a sergeant in the Artists' Rifles and was transferred to the Worcesters with a commission early this year. In civilian life Lieut. Barfoot was in the surveyor's department of the London County Council. The sincerest sympathy is felt with the bereaved family.

ISLE OF WIGHT MERCURY

Friday, July 2, 1915 Page 1

A vote of condolence with the family of the late Lieut. Barfoot was passed at the usual meeting of the P.S.A. Brotherhood last Sunday, after touching reference had been made by the Chairman (Mr. Tory) to the loss the Brotherhood President, Mr. Geo. Barfoot, had sustained. The speaker for the occasion, the Rev. Hugh Parry, paid a tribute to the life of the gallant officer. Three slight errors crept into our report of Lieut. Barfoot's death last week, which were corrected in a second edition of the paper. Lieut. Barfoot was formerly a sergeant, not a private, in the Artists' Rifles, and afterwards joined the 3rd, not the 5th, Worcesters. Furthermore he was in the service of the Islington Borough Council and not the London County Council.

ISLE OF WIGHT MERCURY

Friday, July 9, 1915 Page 1

At the Congregational Church on Sunday morning, the Rev. H.E. Heywood made a touching reference to the death of Lieut. G.A. Barfoot, in the course of which he read a letter from the Captain of his Company, paying tribute to the gallant officer's devotion to duty and to the high respect in which he was held by his colleagues. Lieutenant Barfoot's letters displayed a firm resolve to make the best of things under difficulties and breathed throughout that fine spirit of courage and Christian fortitude which were the chief characteristics of an especially attractive nature.

ISLE OF WIGHT MERCURY

Friday, July 9, 1915 Page 3

The Late Lieutenant G.A. Barfoot.

At the Congregational Church last Sunday morning, the Rev. H.E. Heywood referred to the recent death in action of Second Lieutenant G. Allan Barfoot. Mr. Barfoot was a member of the Church, and is the first to lay down his life of those who responded to their country's call from Ventnor Congregational Church - over 30 in all. Mr. Heywood referred in eulogistic terms to Mr. Barfoot's character and career prior to the war. He was held in the highest esteem by all who knew him. He had long taken an active interest in military matters. He joined the Artists' Rifles eight years ago, and had become an expert marksman. He went to France as a sergeant in this Regiment. The Artists' Rifles became an Officers' Training Corps in France, and Mr. Barfoot went through a long course of special training, ultimately obtaining a Commission and being gazetted to the 3rd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment. He was a fearless and very popular officer, as letters from his fellow officers and others testify. One of his men writes, concerning a particularly desperate engagement, when they were for 30 hours under incessant bombardment, "He was out in the open bandaging the wounded as if nothing were happening" - and the Captain of his Company sent the following letter, which Mr. Heywood described as being in itself a splendid epitaph. 3rd Battalion Worcester Regt.

B.E.F.
June 23rd, 1915
Dear Mrs. Barfoot, - I hope you will kindly accept through me the deepest sympathy of my brother Officers, the N.C.O.'s and men of this Battalion, temporarily under my command, in the death of your gallant son. It is our earnest hope that your greatest consolation may be in the recollection of the fact that by his devoted and unselfish heroism in attempting to protect his wounded subaltern, he has more than upheld the noblest traditions of the Regiment which was so proud to possess him. With renewed sympathy, Believe me, Yours sincerely,
(Signed) C.M. BERINGTON, CAPT.

Mr. Barfoot's letters home were like the man - unselfish and heroic, with never a word of boasting and no suspicion of cant, though a calm faith breathed through them all. He was a loyal and gallant young Christian soldier, of whom his Church as well as his family may be justly proud. A resolution of deepest sympathy with his family was passed by the Church members.