George William

Henry died in service on 4th. February 1871. After Henry’s death, Honor married William Todd, a Miller’s labourer and in 1881 they were living at Fair Green, Denmark Street, Diss with Honor’s children, Frederick, age 17, a shoemaker, Mary S, age 15, a domestic servant and George, age 13.

On 19th. November 1892 George married Harriet Fulcher at the Parish Church in Diss, Norfolk and they had a number of children including George William Jr. who was killed at the end of the 1914-1918 war and is buried
In Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France and Hector Macdonald, born on 9th. June 1900 in Back Haywood, Diss. In addition Fred, Frank, Honor., Sabina, Roger and Hettie Durbidge all attended Burston Village School in 1914.

In 1914 George became involved in what was to become known as “The Burston School Strike”, acting as chairman at the first strike meeting. For further information regarding the strike please go to the official site at

www,burstonstrikeschool.org

During the First World War George served in the Army Service Corps (he was 45 years old when war was declared) having volunteered along with several other villagers at a recruitment meeting held in the village, but even when he was serving abroad he did not forget the strike and in 1916 he wrote to Tom Higdon from an army camp in Malta assuring him of his support.

On 27th. February 1920 George arrived home drunk and started threatening and swearing at his son Hector. Hector went out and returned carrying a loaded .22 gun, which he pointed at his father who was sitting in his chair. George always kept a loaded 12-bore double-barrelled shotgun hanging on the wall above his chair, ready for instant poaching. As Hector entered George raised his hands towards his gun and Hector, thinking he was about to be shot, shot first, killing his father.

On Friday, March 5th. 1920 the following appeared in the Diss Express and Norfolk and Suffolk Journal.

DREADFUL TRAGEDY AT BURSTON

SON CHARGED WITH MURDERING HIS FATHER

George William Durbidge, dealer, of Burston, a man of many parts and signal notoriety, met with a violent death in his little cottage home last Friday evening. The deceased, who was 51 years of age, had attended Diss market as usual and in the latter part of the day bought a quantity of surplus fish, which he hawked at various public houses in the town, and was seen to drive away in the direction of Burston shortly after ten o’clock. About and hour and a half later, his son, Hector Macdonald, a porter at Burston Station presented himself at Diss Police Station and made the confession to Inspector James, “I have shot my father.” He was consequently detained and an investigation, which was immediately made, brought to light a very gruesome and extremely sad affair. George William Durbidge was found in the house he occupied, leaning back in his chair dead, though the body was warm, and a discharged service rifle was discovered in the garden close by.

In the same issue there was an account of the inquest, during which it was stated that on Saturday, 21st. February the deceased came home in a very excited condition and took up a gun and threatened to shoot his wife. She escaped from the house and did not return until five o’clock the next morning, when she took her youngest child with her and set off for London to stay with her eldest daughter. She did not come back to Burston until the following Saturday, the day after her husband was shot

On Friday, March 12th. The paper carried a report of the proceedings of the Diss Petty Sessions, held on Wednesday, March 10th. The evidence disclosed that George Durbidge used to have a double-barrelled gun and two rifles hanging up on beams in the living room. They were sometimes loaded. He had several times threatened to shoot his wife and the whole family. He had been arrested sixteen times for public acts of violence, some of these being assaults on the police.

On the night of the shooting a younger son, in an upstairs bedroom, heard his father say to his brother, “Come out and fight, you ****!” and soon afterwards there was the sound of a shot.

Hector Durbidge arrived at Diss Police Station without hat, boots or jacket. When cautioned he said, “I don’t care as long as I have saved my mother.”

Medical evidence revealed that an examination of the liver of the deceased showed signs of acute alcoholism.

Inquest verdict:

We find that the deceased was accidentally killed by a rifle bullet fired by his son Hector in self defence, to whom no blame attaches, as our opinion is that the son only intended to disable and not kill his father, and we think the son was justified in trying to disable his father.