George Vinall, died 28th September 1915, aged 26.
Private L/8897, 2nd Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment).

George was born in Cranbrook on 2nd January 1889 and it was probably a few years later that the family moved to Lidwells Cottages, Goudhurst, close to the gasworks where he was employed before joining the 2nd Buffs in 1908. His battalion had been in Asia for five years when war broke out, and only reached the Western Front in January 1915. He stayed with his battalion throughout, surviving the Second Battle of Ypres, but was killed in the same attack as Bertie Blackmore in 1915. His name is on the Loos Memorial.

Parish Magazine, St Mary’s, Goudhurst, November 1915
George Vinall was born in Goudhurst and educated at the School: he worked at the Gas works and endeavoured to enlist as soon as he was 18. His chest measurement was just too little, so he joined the Militia and in 52 days attained the necessary measurement and went into the regular army. He went abroad almost at once and has served in Hong Kong, Singapore and various places in India. The Battalion returned after seven years in the East at Christmas 1914, and in the following January went to France. He had latterly been promoted to act as a “sniper” and lost his life also in the attack on Loos. He was in his 27th year.

Kent & Sussex Courier 5th November 1915
Local Man Killed in Action
Pte. George Vinall, of the 3rd Buffs, is reported killed in action near Ypres on September 28th at the age of 27. He enlisted with his half-brother, Henry Bateup, in 1908 and had seen service with the Regiment in Hong Kong and India. At the outbreak of war the Regiment was ordered home and arrived in England on Christmas Day, and went out to the Front on January 15th. Pte. Vinall was an excellent shot and had been selected for special duty and was performing this when killed. His half-brother was wounded in the jaw in February and is now doing recruiting work. Another brother, Horace, is in the 5th Buffs, and the eldest brother, Thomas, is working at munitions, so that it may truly be said that all the members of this Goudhurst family are faithfully serving their country.