BORN HULL 1895. SON OF JOSEPH THOMAS STEVENS (1860-1932) AND SARAH GERTRUDE (GRACE) BENNETT, OF 497 HESSLE ROAD, HULL (1911 CENSUS) AND 157 , PLANE STREET, ANLABY ROAD, HULL (ARMY ADDRESS) HE HAD SEVEN BROTHERS AND THREE SISTERS, TWO OF WHICH DIED IN INFANCY. A FORMER INSURANCE CLERK. HE ENLISTED IN THE HULL PALS. DESCRIBED AS 5 FOOT, 4.5 ICHES TALL, 132 LBS WEIGH, 34-37 INCH CHEST. SEERVED IN EGYPT AND FRANCE. KILLED IN ACTION, ON 12/04/1918, AGED 23. HE HAD SERVED IN THE ARMY FOR 3 YEARS AND 124 DAYS.
HIS BROTHER, PTE; HAROLD RAYMOND STEVENS, NOTTS & DERBY REGIMENT, SERVED AT SAME ADDRESS. HIS BROTHER CHARLES, A PROFESSIONAL SOLDIER, SERVED IN THE BERKSHIRE REGIMENT.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. CORPORAL ERNEST BENNETT STEVENS 10/1106. Born 1895, the seventh of eight children, to Joseph and Sarah Stevens of 157 Plane Street, Hull. A Clerk in peacetime, Ernest was one of the original Pals, queuing to enlist at Hull City Hall on 14th December 1914. He trained with the fledgling battalion throughout 1915 and shipped to Egypt in the December, where they helped to defend the Suez Canal from the Turks. By the early months of 1918, Ernest was a veteran of both the Somme and Oppy Wood and was now among the most experienced soldiers in the trenches. His skills and the respect he commanded had allowed him to rise to the rank of Corporal, a far cry from his days spent book-keeping back in Hull. Ernest Bennett Stevens was killed in action on 12th April 1918 during the 10th Battalion’s rearguard action to hold up the German Spring Offensive somewhere near Bethune. His body was never recovered and his name is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial. He was 23 years old.
