Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE ERNEST FORD 10044. Born June 1899, the second of three children to John and Dinah Ford, Ernest was perhaps destined for the army; it was in his blood. The 1901 Census has him a one-year-old living at Victoria Barracks in Beverley where his dad worked as an Orderly Room Sergeant in the Manchester and Lancashire Regiment. By the time he was 12, Ernest’s father had retired an Army Pensioner and the family lived at 2 Long Lane, Beverley. Originally enlisting in the 1st Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, Ernest later transferred to the 10th and joined the Pals in the trenches of the Western Front. He was killed in action in the small hours of the morning on 27th April 1918 during a night raid on German positions around La Becque Farm and his body lost in the melee. His name is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial to the missing; he was 19 years old. I wonder if his father glowed with martial pride, or if he rued the day he made a soldier of his son.
Ford, Ernest
First name:
ERNEST
Military Number:
10044
Rank:
Private
Date Died
27/04/1918
Place died:
Ploegsteert Memorial, Hainaut, Belgium
Age:
19
2 LONG LANE, BEVERLEY, EAST RIDING, EAST YORKSHIRE, United Kingdom
