Westmount, Quebec – 19 October 2015: The Town of Purfleet, Essex, England has commemorated its native sons who died in the First World War. They named each of twenty six of their transit buses after the 26 men killed in WWI. Each bus carries the name outside with a sign inside telling about the soldier. One of those buses is named after Pte. George Edward Biggs #26058, an original of the 14th Bn., C.E.F.
Biggs married Daisy Constance of Anglo cottages, Purfleet, at Rainham in 1907, then in 1910 they emigrated to Canada. He enlisted with the RMR on 22 Sept 1914 in Valcartier, Quebec just prior to the Regiment setting sail for the UK.
As the official “circumstances of death” document (below) indicates, Biggs was a bomber and was killed during an attack at the Battle of Festubert in 1915, which is one of the RMR’s 26 battle honours.
Private George Edward Biggs has no known grave, one of the many RMR’s listed as “missing”, and as such is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial, Vimy, Departement du Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. The RMR sent a contingent to visit the memorial as part of their centennial activities in the summer of 2014.
