Name
Ernest Frank Ingram
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
17/09/1914
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
5545
Coldstream Guards
3rd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LA FERTE-SOUS-JOUARRE MEMORIAL
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
High Wych Memorial,
Not on the Sawbridgeworth memorials
Pre War
Ernest Frank Ingram, commonly known as Frank, was born at Hoskins High Wych on 25th February 1888, the son of William (a general labourer) and Louisa. On 16th November 1912 at St. James’s Church High Wych he married Olive Annie Kempthorne.
Wartime Service
Frank served in the Coldstream Guards and was a member of the British Expeditionary Force. A professional soldier, he was one of the first to fall: on 16th September during the battle of the Aisne. It was there that it became clear that old fashioned moving warfare had become impossible. Neither side would budge, neither chose to retreat. It was stalemate; the antagonists were locked into a relatively narrow strip of land. On 14th September, the entire BEF was ordered to entrench. Soldiers scouted nearby farms and villages for pickaxes, spades and other implements. Initially only shallow pits were dug, intended to provide cover against enemy observation and shell fire. Soon however the trenches had to be deepened to about seven feet. This stalemate would continue for four years. Frank’s final resting place is not known. His name is inscribed in the war memorial at the La Ferte sous Jouarre Memorial.
Additional Information
Ernest’s widow Olive was later to marry George Lawrence who had served in Egypt during WW2.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Theo van de Bilt
