It proved difficult to trace George's family in the records as his life was so short and the gravestone dedication gives no clues of other family members.

 

The baptismal registers of East Boldre, Beaulieu and Boldre churches show the only recorded birth of a 'George Phillips' in 1850-1852 is to Ellen Phillips, who was 21 at the time of his birth. George was baptised at Boldre church on 5th January 1851. The census that year shows Ellen and her son George (aged 4 months) living in Beaulieu Rails (East Boldre) with her parents, William and Hannah (nee Gregory). 

 

In 1853, Ellen married George Rixon, a farm labourer. Almost exactly a year later her young son George died. He was buried on 2nd July 1854 by the Rev John Bartlett Burt. One of the many young children buried in the chapel's graveyard, it is a sad reflection of the high infant mortality of the time.

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George and Ellen Rixon went on to have six more children together.

 

The epitaph is a quote from the book of Job 14:2.