Sellers, Ernest Walter | Kingston upon Hull War Memorial 1914

Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE ERNEST WALTER SELLERS 10/1054. Born 1897, the only son of Walter James and Minnie Sellers, of 7 Cynthia Grove, Division Road, Hull. The couple had a daughter too, though she was ten years older, and the lack of other siblings suggests that the Ernest’s parents may have had trouble conceiving. How they must have felt then, to see their son sign up for the Pals in the early days of September 1914 when the war was but a month old and all the talk was of it being over by Christmas. And how they must have felt again when news reached them of his death on May 3rd 1917 during the fighting for Oppy Wood. His body was never recovered and his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. He was barely 20 years old. Private Weasenham lay waiting to attack in the small hours of that morning and described the comfort of having his pals around him, though no-one really spoke. “Their mood was tense and grave, some carried a crucifix and sought solace in religion, last letters home had been written and money and jewellery pooled and so save from the battlefield scroungers. The last night of safety was upon them; they formed into waves and waited in the darkness.”

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 WALTER

Regiment:

10th East Yorkshire Regiment (Hull Commercials)

Military Number:

1054

Rank:

Private

Date Died

03/05/1917

Place died:

Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France

Age:

7 CYNTHIA GROVE, DIVISION ROAD, HULL, EAST YORKSHIRE, UK

Place Buried

62000 Arras, France