BRIGADIER GENERAL GEORGE COLBORNE NUGENT
OFFICER COMMANDING 141ST INFANTRY BRIGADE, LATE IRISH GUARDS
31ST MAY 1915 AGE 51
BURIED: BETHUNE TOWN CEMETERY, VLAMERTINGHE, FRANCE
The entry in the 141st Brigade War Diary reads: "7.40 am Brigadier General Nugent killed by a stray bullet". To those at the Brigade Headquarters this seemed impossible but as Private AR Read reported: "Our Brigadier General while inspecting the forward positions was killed by a sniper at Sidbury Mound. Strange to say but I myself had passed that spot a good many times, and it must have been the general's red hat band that caused his death". Read goes on to say that the General's body was brought back to Headquarters and "each of us in turn was allowed to have a last look at him. We went out and picked some wild flowers and the Pioneers made a wooden cross".
General Nugent's two sons, aged 24 and 20 at the time of their father's death, both survived the war.