BORN HULL 1896. HULL PAL. SON OF WILLIAM & ALICE, OF, 9, ROMNEY GARDENS, TUNIS STREET, HULL. KILLED IN ACTION. NOT ON ST MARY’s CHURCH MEMORIAL.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE ERNEST BEARFIELD 11/18. Born in January 1896, Ernest was the eldest of four children to William and Alice Bearfield of 9 Tunis Street, Ash Grove, Hull. A Sheet Metal Worker by trade, he must have been pretty keen for he was 18th in the queue on the morning of Monday 7th September 1914 when Hull City Hall opened its doors to begin recruiting for the 2nd Hull Pals Battalion, ‘The Tradesmen’, 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment. He also lied about his age. A young man could join the army at 18 but was not allowed to serve overseas until 19; Ernest stuck an extra year on for good measure, just in case. A veteran of Egypt, the Somme and Oppy Wood he had survived them all unscathed barring a brief bout of bronchitis in April 1916 and a “slight wound” in August that year which was treated in the trenches. Ernest Bearfield was killed in action on 8th November 1917 during a trench raid on German positions at Fresnoy and his body was never recovered; his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial; he was 21 years old.
