Eley, Ernest

BORN HULL 1892. SON OF GEORGE & MARY ELEY,  AT THIS ADDRESS & 79 GOODWIN STREET, ANLABY ROAD, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS). HE HAD TWO BROTHERS AND EIGHT SISTERS WHO ALL LIVED IN THE WALKER STREET AREA. WORKED AS A PORTER. DESCRIBED AS 5 FOOT 3 INCHES TALL, 128 LBS AND 36 INCH CHEST, BLUE EYES, BROWN HAIR.

HE ENLISTED IN HULL, ON 05/10/1914. SERVED WITH THE HULL PALS IN EGYPT. TRANSFERRED TO FRANCE, 08/03/1916. KILLED AT OPPY WOOD, 03/05/1917, AGED 25. HE WAS UNMARRIED. HIS WAR PENSION WENT TO FATHER GEORGE. HIS BROTHER, WILLIAM ELEY, SERVED IN THE RFA, & LIVED AT 93 WALCOTT STREET, HULL.

Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE ERNEST ELEY 12/897. Born in 1892 Ernest was one of eleven children to George and Mary Eley of 79 Goodwin Street, Hull. A Porter by trade he enlisted at City Hall on 5th October 1914 joining the fledgling 12th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, 3rd Hull Pals. He stood at 5ft 3in, and had brown hair and blue eyes. Apart from being docked two days pay for overstaying a pass 25/26th October 1915 Ernest is pretty much the invisible man. Like all the Pals he shipped from Devonport just before Christmas 1915 and endured the wild Bay of Biscay seas which painted such a memorable picture as well as painting the deck of the ship with the collective efforts of thousands of men unused to stormy weather and ocean waves. He landed at Port Said on 28th December, served protecting Suez from the Turkish army until they shipped out of Alexandria on 29th February 1916 bound for Marseilles and the train north to Armentieres and the trenches of the Western Front. Other than that, the next he is mentioned is being missing following the slaughter at Oppy Wood on 3rd May 1917, and later presumed to have been killed. His body was never recovered and his name joins that of 36,816 others with no known grave on the Arras Memorial. He was 24 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
Regiment:
12th East Yorkshire Regiment (Hull Sportsmen)
Military Number:
12/879
Rank:
Private
Date Died
03/05/1917
Place died:
Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France
Age:
24
13, WALTHAM TERRACE, WALKER STREET, HULL, EAST YORKSHIRE, UK
Place Buried
62000 Arras, France