Burke G.W. - The OldWinburnians

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George was son of Charles  William and Rosiland May Burke and the first of their twelve children.  Two of  them died when infants, the remainder being six daughters and four sons. He was the husband of Eileen Margaret Burke, of Walmer, Kent.
Initially, the family lived in one of  two  cottages, at  right angles to King Street  which abutted  the surviving flagstone footpath from the car park, to the Minster. The dwellings  faced the burial ground to the south of the Minster.  Later, the family moved to Grove Road.
Charlie Burke, George's father, worked for Cowdry, the baker, who had premises on the corner of West Borough and Prior's Walk.  He assisted in the bakery and was also a roundsman.
George's maternal grandfather, a Mr. Blake, conducted his butcher's business from a shop on the South side of  King Street, almost  opposite the existing entrance to  the Minster car park.
George is understood to have been acting as a despatch rider when he was killed, probably in a land mine explosion.    
He is interred in the Banneville-La-Campagne War Cemetery, Calvados, France. This cemetery is near a village which is approx 8 km (5 miles)  East of Caen, Normandy.
It contains the graves of 2OOO war casualties, most of whom were killed between the second week in July 1944, when Caen was captured, and the end of August 1944.