b. 06/10/1888 Bishopwearmouth, County Durham. d. 09/07/1929 Lee, London
George Allan Maling (1888-1929) was born at Bishopwearmouth, Sunderland, County Durham on 6th October 1888. His father was Edwin Allan Maling JP MRCS, a noted surgeon. His mother was Maria Jane nee Hartley. His parents married on 30th April 1868 in London. The couple went on to have nine children including George who was their youngest child.
George A Maling VC
George was educated at Oatlands College in Harrogate, Uppingham School 1903-07, Exeter College, Oxford 1907-1914 (BA Hons Natural Sciences & MA 1914) and St Thomas’s Hospital, London (MB BCh 1914, MRCS & LRCP 1915). He was commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps as a Lieutenant on 18th January 1915 and was sent to France on 20th July.
On 25th September 1915 near Fauquissart, France Lieutenant Maling worked for over 24 hours with untiring energy, collecting and treating in the open, under heavy shell fire, more than 300 men. During the morning of the 25th he was temporarily stunned by the bursting of a large high explosive shell which wounded his only assistant and killed several of his patients. A second shell covered him and his instruments with debris, but he continued his gallant work single-handed.
He was gazetted for the VC for his actions on 18th November 1915, and was presented with the VC by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 15th January 1916. George was appointed temporary captain on 18th January and served at the Military Hospital Grantham until returning to the front in 1917 to join 34th Field Ambulance in 11th Division until the end of the war. He relinquished his commission on 8th April 1919.
George married Daisy Mabel nee Wolmer from Winnipeg, Canada on 5th May 1917. She was a Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve ward sister and they met at Belton Military Hospital, Grantham. As a staff nurse she was awarded the Royal Red Cross Decoration 2nd Class for valuable services in connection with the war. The couple went on to have four children.
George became resident medical officer at Victoria Hospital for Children in Chelsea. He was later outpatients surgeon at St John’s Hospital, Lewisham before going into partnership practising in Lee, South London. He was a keen fisherman and tennis player. George died at his home, “St Monica’s”, Lee, London on 9th July 1929 and is buried in Chislehurst (Town) Cemetery, Kent. He left £15,579 in his will.
In addition to his VC, he was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal 1914-20 and Victory Medal 1914-19. His medals were held on loan at the Museum of Military Medicine, Mychett, Surrey, until Lord Ashcroft acquired the medals privately in 2023.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: LORD ASHCROFT GALLERY, IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM, LONDON.
BURIAL PLACE: CHISLEHURST CEMETERY, CHISLEHURST, KENT. SECTION A, GRAVE 2017.
Acknowledgements:
Steve Davies – Image of the renovated Maling VC Grave in Chislehurst Cemetery.
Thomas Stewart – Image of the Maling VC Medal Group at the RAMC Museum, Keogh Barracks, and now at the Imperial War Museum.
Andrew Swan – Image of the Blue Plaque in Sunderland, County Durham.