Lockwood, Ernest Arthur

BORN HULL 1886. SON OF JOHN LOCKWOOD (1857-1921) & ELLEN ELIZA RELAND, OF  18 GOODRICH TERRACE, CAVE STREET, HULL (CWGC ADDRESS). SON OF A PAINTER. EMPLOYED AS A NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY WORKER. HE ENLISTED IN THE HULL PALS. KILLED AT OPPY WOOD, 03/05/1917, AGED 31. BURIED AT ORCHARD DUMP CEMETERY, ARLEUX-EN-GOHELLE.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. L/CPL ERNEST ARTHUR LOCKWOOD 11/69. Born in April 1886, Ernest was the eldest of twelve children to John and Ellen Lockwood of 18 Goodrich Terrace, Cave Street, Beverley Road, Hull. A General Labourer before the war he wasted no time in joining those long uneven lines of late summer 1914. He enlisted at Hull City Hall on 7th September joining the 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Tradesmen’, 2nd Hull Pals. Military discipline and Ernest weren’t immediate close bedfellows, he was forced to forfeit a lot of pay during his months training in 1915…. on six separate occasions in fact…..yet he must have proved himself a capable soldier for his promotion from Private to Lance Corporal was not opposed despite his record of ill-discipline. A veteran of Egypt and the Somme, Ernest was killed in action on 3rd May 1917 as the Pals attacked German positions in front of Oppy Wood; he is buried at Orchard Wood Cemetery; he was 30 years old.

The attack on Oppy Wood, part of the Battle of Arras, was a significant battle for the East Yorkshire Regiment and particularly for the city of Hull.  All four Hull Pals battalions were involved on 3 May and all suffered heavy casualties, with 40% of those present killed or injured. 2nd Lieutenant Jack Harrison, a local teacher and rugby player with Hull FC, won a posthumous Victoria Cross for his bravery in rushing a machine gun position to protect his platoon. His body was never found.
The village of Oppy in France had been in German hands since October 1914 and was part of a formidable defensive system including trenches, dug-outs and thick barbed wire defences. During the Battle of Arras, which began in April 1917, the British tried to take Oppy. The first attack was a failure. A second attack was partially successful. The third attack on 3 May, known officially as the Third Battle of the Scarpe, was again unsuccessful with significant loss of life. The troops were ordered to attack at 3.45am, rather than at dawn, and the defending Germans could easily see the line of British soldiers clearly lit by the full moon. The British continued to attack Oppy and were finally successful the following year. The City of Hull Memorial at Oppy was unveiled in 1927 and commemorates the men of the Hull Pals who were killed on 3 and 4 May 1917.
First name:
ERNEST ARTHUR
Regiment:
11th East Yorkshire Regiment (Hull Tradesmen)
Military Number:
25508
Rank:
Lance Corporal
Date Died
03/05/1917
Place died:
Orchard Dump Cemetery, Arleux-En-Gohelle, Pas de Calais, France
Age:
30
18 GOODRICH TERRACE, CAVE STREET, HULL, EAST YORKSHIRE, UK
Place Buried
62580 Arleux-en-Gohelle, France