Name
Ernest John Munby
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
31/01/1915
38
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
Royal Engineers
1st East Anglian Field Company
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LE TOURET MILITARY CEMETERY, RICHEBOURG-L'AVOUE
II. A. 7.
France
Headstone Inscription
In loving memory
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St Saviour's Church War Memorial, Radcliffe Rd., Hitchin, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin
Pre War
He was born in Turvey Rectory on the 19th May 1875, son of the Rev. George Frederick Woodhouse and Harriet Louisa (née Linton), of Turvey Rectory, Turvey, Beds.
Ernest was educated at Rugby and at the Stevens Institute at Hoboken in the U.S.A. where he obtained a degree as Mechanical Engineer. He then worked as a mining engineer in Colorado and Borneo and helped to build tunnels under the Hudson River in New York. Just before the war he was working at St. John's Mine, Montezuma, Colorado.
He married Emily Louisa Ann in Croydon on the 7th November 1905. His address was shown as Highbury Rise, Hitchin. By the time he enlisted his father had died and his wife and mother were living in Hitchin.
Wartime Service
Ernest volunteered for active service at the beginning of the war, returning to England, and obtained a commission, which was gazetted on the 14th September 1914, in the 1st East Anglian Field Company, Royal Engineers. He was sent to the front on Christmas Eve 1914 and was killed in action near Bethune.
There was considerable activity, if no major engagements, in the area where he is buried. He was possibly engaged in tunnelling and counter-tunnelling operations, which were also going on about the time of his death.
Additional Information
A private inscription on the headstone reads "In loving memory".
Acknowledgments
Derry Warners
David C Baines, Jonty Wild
