George Wishart was born at 2 Middlefield on Leith Walk, Edinburgh on 6 May 1889. He was the eighth of ten children of William Wishart, a lithographic printer from Aberdeen, and his wife, Isabella Scott. By 1901 the family had moved to Glasgow and lived in a stone tenement building at 6 Winston Street (now known as Whitby Street.) After leaving school George found work as a butcher’s shop assistant and in 1908 was living at 729 London Road when he married Christina McPhail Liddell in the Gorbals district on 11 August. Four months later a son named William was born at 157 Hospital Street and by 1911 the family were resident at 118 Florence Street in Govan.

On 5 December 1915, while living at 8 Morgan Street, George enlisted in Glasgow and was sent into the Army Reserve. At a medical inspection in April 1916, it was recorded that aside from suffering from obesity, George was also undergoing treatment for syphilitic meningitis and consequently his services were not required. By June 1918 his circumstances must have improved as he was categorised as fit for Grade B1 and eventually called up for service on 2 November. George was sent to Sydenham where he joined the Army Service Corps (Motor Transport) as a driver and served until 22 September 1919 when he was demobilised at Grove Park.

After the war, George and his family (by then he had two children) continued living at Morgan Street until his untimely death from heart and kidney disease on 11 February 1947. He was preceded in death by several of his brothers, two of whom also served in uniform during the First World War.

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