George Lawrence Price

This article is about the Canadian soldier. For other uses, seeGeorge Price (disambiguation).

George Lawrence Price
Price, c. 1914-18
Born	(1892-12-15)December 15, 1892 Falmouth, Nova Scotia,Canada
Died	November 11, 1918(1918-11-11)(aged 25) Ville-sur-Haine,Belgium
Buried	St Symphorien Military Cemetery,Mons,Belgium 50°25′56″N4°0′38″E
Allegiance	Canada/British Empire
Service/branch	Canadian Corps(Army)
Years of service	1917–1918
Rank	Private
Unit	28th 'Northwest' Battalion Canadian Infantry (Saskatchewan Regiment) aka. 'the Nor'westers'
Battles/wars	Amiens,Cambrai,the 'Pursuit to Mons'

PrivateGeorge Lawrence Price(December 15, 1892 – November 11, 1918) was aCanadian soldier.He is traditionally recognized as the last soldier of theBritish Empireto be killed during theFirst World War.

Early life

Price was born inFalmouth, Nova Scotia,on December 15, 1892, and raised on Church Street, in what is nowPort Williams, Nova Scotia.George was the third child of James Ephraim and Annie Rose (Stephens) Price. He moved toMoose Jaw, Saskatchewan,as a young man, where he wasconscriptedon October 15, 1917. He served with "A" Company of the28th Battalion (Northwest), CEF,Canadian Expeditionary Force.

November 11, 1918

The2nd Division's6th Canadian Infantry Brigadewas selected to attack this day. From the 6th Brigade, the 28th 'North-West' Battalion and the 31st Battalion/Alberta Regiment were chosen to lead the attack.The 28th Battalion had orders for November 11 to advance fromFrameries(South of Mons) and continue to the village of Havre, securing all the bridges on theCanal du Centre.The battalion advanced rapidly starting at 4:00 a.m., pushing back light German resistance and they reached their position along the canal facingVille-sur-Haineby 9:00 a.m. where the battalion received a message that all hostilities would cease at 11:00 a.m.Price and fellow soldier Art Goodmurphy were worried that the battalion's position on the open canal bank was exposed to German positions on the opposite side of the canal where they could see bricks had been knocked out from house dormers to create firing positions. According to Goodmurphy, they decided on their own initiative to take a patrol of five men across the bridge to search the houses. Reaching the houses and checking them one by one, they discovered German soldiers mounting machine guns along a brick wall overlooking the canal. The Germans opened fire on the patrol with heavy machine guns but the Canadians were protected by the brick walls of one of the houses. Aware that they had been discovered and outflanked, the Germans began to retreat.A Belgian family in one of the houses warned the Canadians to be careful as they followed the retreating Germans. George Price was fatally shot in the right breast by a Germansniperas he stepped out of the house into the street. He was pulled into one of the houses and treated by a young Belgian nurse who ran across the street to help, but died a minute later at 10:58 a.m., November 11, 1918. His death was just two minutes before thearmisticecame into effect at 11 a.m.

Memorials

Memorial dedicated to the regiment of the British Expeditionary Force which took part in actions nearMons(Belgium).

École George Price

Price was originally buried in Havre Old Communal Cemetery, one of the cemeteries subsequently concentrated into theSt Symphorien military cemetery,just southeast ofMons.Coincidentally, this is also the final resting place ofJohn ParrandGeorge Edwin Ellison,respectively the first and last British soldiers killed during the Great War.According to Veterans Affairs Canada, Price's remains were reinterred atSt Symphorien Military Cemeteryafter the war.

In 1968, on the 50th anniversary of his death and the armistice surviving members of his company traveled to Ville-sur-Haine and amemorial plaquewas placed onto a wall of a house near the location of his death. The inscription, in English and then in French, reads in English:

To the memory of 256265 Private George Lawrence Price, 28th North West Battalion, 6th Canadian Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadian Division, killed in action near this spot at 10.58 hours, November 11th, 1918, the last Canadian soldier to die on the Western Front in the First World War. Erected by his comrades, November 11th, 1968.

The house has since been torn down, but the plaque has been placed on a brick and stone monument near the site where the house originally stood, and thus still near the place where he fell.

In 1991, the town of Ville-sur-Haine erected a new footbridge across the adjacentCanal du Centre,at50.4737°N 4.0662°E/50.4737; 4.0662(George Price Footbridge).A plebiscite was held and on 11 November of that year the bridge was officially named theGeorge Price Footbridge(French:Passerelle George Price).

On April 24, 2015, the local school in Ville-sur-Haine was renamedÉcole George Price.

In 2016, Price'smedalset and the memorial plaque were donated to theCanadian War Museum.

On November 10, 2018,Canadian Governor GeneralJulie Payetteand other dignitaries attended the inauguration of a teardrop shaped monument in honour of Price, located in Ville-sur-Haine.

InMoose Jaw, Saskatchewan,on August 26, 2021, a plaque was unveiled in Crescent Park commemorating "The Last Commonwealth Soldier Killed In First World War".

See also

• Augustin Trébuchon,the last French soldier killed in World War I,10:45 a.m. November 11, 1918
• George Edwin Ellison,the last British soldier killed in World War I,9:30 a.m. November 11, 1918
• Henry Gunther,the last American soldier killed in World War I,10:59 a.m. November 11, 1918
• Marcel Toussaint Terfve,the last Belgian soldier killed in World War I, at10:45 a.m. November 11, 1918
• YouTube: END OF WAR - the final minutes of WWI. The last minutes of the soldiers Augustin Trébuchon, George Lawrence Price und Henry Nicholas Gunther

External links

• George Lawrence Price,Find A Grave
• Private George Lawrence Price, Last Man Killed in WWI(MS Word Doc),NW Battalion.
• George Price(article),Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
• Pte. Price's monument & bridge in Ville-sur-Haine,Wikimapia, archived fromthe original(image)on 2009-02-06.
• Study Group Blog on George Lawrence Price,Canadian Expeditionary Force.Contains eyewitness account of Price's death.