Ernest was the middle one of three brothers of a Finstock (Oxfordshire) family who fought for ‘King and Country’ in the 1914 -18 war.

Whilst a boy, growing up in Finstock, the family had lived in several different locations in the village, including the last house down Wards Lane, and the game-keepers house on Finstock Heath .

As with many other young men, he had previously joined the territorials (a source of much needed extra income) meaning when war was declared they were the first to be ‘called up’. Called by the Kaiser ‘The contemptable little army’.

Possibly because he had been working on a farm and was used to horses, he was drafted into the country’s mounted regiment, the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars, and after a short period of intensive training was very quickly sent abroad.

One of the battles the regiment were soon involved in was the battle of Mons where those involved qualified for a medal known as the Mons Star.

Other battles followed and as the conflict went on Ernest became a very experienced and battle-hardened soldier.

Sadly, it was not to last.

The excerpt from the Regimental Diary describes what happened during the battle of St Quentin in March 1918.

"22.03.1918

2.30am Private Bayliss killed, Sergeant Drake, Private Claridge badly wounded.

2.35am Order regiment along trench to Corporal Page; fail to take Private Claridge owing to him being too heavy to carry.

4.00am Find Battalion HQ, arrive with 'C' Company and 25 other ranks.  Am told it is impossible to try to bring in either Sergeant Drake or Private Claridge"

The bodies of Ernest and his colleagues have never been found and to quote Rupert Brook, lie ‘In some corner of a foreign field that is for ever England’.  Along with many, many more very brave men who died in similar circumstances,

He was 23 years old and is commemorated on the PONZIERES MEMORIAL PANEL No 6.

Angela Freer