BORN HULL 1881. SON OF ELLARD HOBSON PECK (1852-1919) & SARAH PECK, OF 8 STORY STREET, HULL. BROTHER TO WALTER AND ELLARD, AND SISTERS, HARRIET, AND ADA. HE MARRIED AT ST PAUL’S CHURCH, HULL, ON 18/04/1908. HIS WIFE ROSE (COCKERLINE) AND THREE DAUGHTERS LIVED AT THIS ARMY ADDRESS. HE WAS A PORTER FOR THE NORTH EASTERN RAILWAYS, AT NEPTUNE STREET, STATION, HULL. HE ENLISTED IN HULL, ON 26/11/1915, AGED 34 YEARS AND 9 MONTHS. DESCRIBED AS 5 FOOT, 5 INCHES TALL, 36 INCH CHEST, AND 114 LBS WEIGHT. HE ARRIVED IN FRANCE ON 01/02/1917. JOINED THE 7TH PLATOON, ‘B’ COMPANY, 12TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. HE WENT OVER THE TOP AT OPPY WOOD WITH HIS FRIEND, PRIVATE, 12/268, HAROLD FIELDS, 12TH EYR. HE WAS KILLED IN ACTION, ON 03/05/1917, AGED 36. ERNEST PECK HAD SERVED IN THE ARMY FOR 1 YEAR AND 159 DAYS. HE IS COMMEMORATED AT ARRAS MEMORIAL.HIS ARMY EFFECTS WENR TO HIS WIDOW ROSE.
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.
