Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of Andrew Tyers, a waggoner, born 1872 in Great Dalby, Leicestershire, and his wife Elizabeth Ann Tyers (nee Pepper, married in the 4th quarter of 1894 in the Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire district), born 1874 in South Witham, Lincolnshire, George’s siblings were, Leonard, a schoolboy, born 1899 and Gertrude Florence, a schoolgirl, born 1901, the latter two siblings were both born in Great Dalby, and Andrew Cecil, born 1903 in Kirby Bellars, Leicestershire, in April 1911 the family home was at Wild’s Cottage, Kirby Bellars. George William was born on the 22nd January 1895 in Great Dalby, and was not recorded on either the March 1901 or April 1911 census returns.
George enlisted in the Royal Navy to serve a 12 year engagement on the 5th December 1913, he was allocated the service number K/21449 in Portsmouth, Hants. His medical record recorded that he was 5 foot 9¾ inches in height, and he had a chest measurement of 36 inches, his hair colour was brown and he had grey blue eyes, his complexion was described as fresh, it was noted that he had a scar at the tip of his middle right finger and a mole on the upper part of the left side of his neck, he gave his trade or calling as farm servant. His record of service began when he joined HMS Victory II as a Stoker 2nd Class on the 5/12/13 – 18/4/14. HMS Bulwark, 19/4/14 – 26/11/14, when he was killed by an internal explosion aboard his vessel.
The background relating to the circumstances in which George lost his life are as follows; HMS Bulwark, a battleship of 15,000 tons, was moored to No.17 buoy in Kethole Reach on the River Medway, almost opposite the town of Sheerness, Isle of Sheppey, Kent. It was one of the ships forming the 5th Battle Squadron. She had been moored there for some days, and many of her crew had been given leave the previous day. They had returned to the Bulwark at 7 o'clock that morning and the full complement was onboard. The usual ship's routine was taking place. Officers and men were having breakfast in the mess below deck, others were going about their normal duties. A band was practising while some men were engaged in drill. Then disaster struck. A roaring and rumbling sound was heard and a huge sheet of flame and debris shot upwards. The ship lifted out of the water and fell back. There was a thick cloud of grey smoke and further explosions. When the smoke eventually cleared, the Bulwark had sunk without trace, with the loss of 736 men. Two of the 14 survivors died later in hospital. The explosion was likely to have been caused by the overheating of cordite charges that had been placed adjacent to a boiler room bulkhead. The scene was described by an eye witness, who was on board a ship nearby, to a local newspaper: “I was at breakfast when I heard an explosion, and I went on deck. My first impression was that the report was produced by the firing of a salute by one of the ships, but the noise was quite exceptional. When I got on deck I soon saw that something awful had happened. The water and sky were obscured by dense volumes of smoke. We were at once ordered to the scene of the disaster to render what assistance we could. At first we could see nothing, but when the smoke cleared a bit we were horrified to find the battleship Bulwark had gone. She seemed to have entirely vanished from sight, but a little later we detected a portion of the huge vessel showing about 4ft above water. We kept a vigilant look-out for the unfortunate crew, but only saw two men.” The explosion was heard in Whitstable, 20 miles away, and in Southend where the pier was shaken by the explosion but not damaged. Ships anchored off Southend holding German civilian prisoners also reported hearing the explosion. Residents in Westcliffe-on-Sea claimed they saw “a dense volume of greenish smoke which lasted for about ten minutes”. The nearby areas of Sheerness and Rainham took the brunt of the blast with reports of damage to property being made. Rumour began to run wild amongst the residents. Some claimed it was the expected and feared Zeppelin raids commencing, others said that a periscope had been sighted and the Bulwark had been sunk by a submarine. Others thought that espionage had taken place and were on the look-out for suspicious people in town. All these rumours were later discounted. Boats of all kinds were launched from the nearby ships and shore to pick up survivors and the dead. Work was hampered by the amount of debris which included hammocks, furniture, boxes and hundreds of mutilated bodies. Fragments of personal items showered down in the streets of Sheerness. Initially 14 men survived the disaster, but some died later from their injuries. One of the survivors, an able seaman, had a miraculous escape. He said he was on the deck of the Bulwark when the explosion occurred. He was blown into the air, fell clear of the debris and managed to swim to wreckage and keep himself afloat until he was rescued. His injuries were slight. None of the Bulwark's officers survived, although 11 of them were recovered for eventual burial.
On Friday November 26th 1915 The Melton Mowbray Times & Vale of Belvoir Gazette published the following article under the heading. “BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND DEATHS.” – IN MEMORIAM. TYERS. – In loving memory of George W. Tyers, the beloved son of Andrew and Eliza Tyers, Kirby Lodge, who lost his life in the “Bulwark” disaster, 26th November, 1914. From Father, Mother, Brothers and Sisters.