BORN HULL 1898. HULL PAL. SON OF ARTHUR DENNIS MARRITT (1864-1943) & ANNIE OGLESBY 91863-1929). KILLED IN ACTION. AWARDED THE DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL, ON 17/04/1918, FOR CAPTURING A MACHINE GUN.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. SERGEANT ERNEST MARRITT 11/785. Born in 1897, Ernest was the third of four children to Arthur and Annie Marritt, of 24, Montrose Street, Hull. He enlisted on 8th September 1914 at Hull City Hall. He was 16 years old and underage. Just three years earlier he was listed on the census as being a ‘Picture Framer’s Errand Boy’, he was barely out of short trousers. It mattered not. Ernest must have proved himself a capable and reliable soldier for he was promoted to Sergeant and his experiences of the next three years certainly made a man of him. A veteran of Egypt, the Somme and Oppy Wood, he was killed in action during the trench raid on German positions at Fresnoy, on 8th November 1917, but was awarded a posthumous Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions that day.
The London Gazette of 1st January 1918:
“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in an attack. He was in command of his Lewis gun section, and by his courage and resource, he was mainly responsible for the capture of two enemy strong points and a machine gun.”
Ernest’s body was never recovered and his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial; a man of 19. His name is recorded on the WW1 Memorial, St John The Baptist, Church, Newington, Hull
