Name
Ernest Belch
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
17/04/1916
29
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
56104
Canadian Infantry
19th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Searched but not found
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LIJSSENTHOEK MILITARY CEMETERY
V1.B.22A
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Rickmansworth Urban District Memorial,
St. Mary’s Church Memorial, Rickmansworth
Pre War
Ernest was born on the 17th of July 1886 in Rickmansworth the son of Henry and Annie (nee Humphrey) Belch and baptised on the 10th of October.
His father was a Papermaker and the family lived in Rickmansworth High Street, in 1901 at Wensum Cottages. By 1911 they were in Ebury Road and Ernest age 24 was a House Painter. In 1912 Ernest emigrated to Canada departing Liverpool on the 5th of July and arriving Quebec on the 12th. On the 24th of July he married Nellie Jenkins and they lived at 86 Empire Avenue, Toronto.
Recorded as enlisting in Toronto, Canada.
Wartime Service
Ernest enlisted on the 4th of March in Toronto. His unit spent the summer of 1915 training at Shorncliff on the Kent coast and entered France on the 14th of September 1915 as part of 14th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadian Division.
The circumstances in which Ernest was wounded are not documented, but it seems likely that he was a casualty in the latter stages of the Battle of St Eloi Craters which took place from 27th of March to the 16th of April 1916. It was fought in appalling conditions – torrential rain and mud – among the huge water filled craters created by the use of mines. The first phase was fought by the British 3rd Division, but they were relieved by the 2nd Canadian Division on the 3rd of April. It was the Canadian’s first major engagement and they were ill equipped and badly prepared. They fought valiantly against fierce German counter attacks but by the end had conceded almost all the gains made by the British losing nearly 1400 men killed or wounded. Ernest died of wounds in No 10
Additional Information
Ernest is also commemorated on the family headstone in Rickmansworth (Chorley Road) Cemetery. His part of the inscription reads:
ALSO OUR (Henry & Annie Belch) SON ERNEST
AND BELOVED HUSBAND OF NELLIE BELCH WHO DIED OF WOUNDS RECEIVED IN ACTION APRIL 17 1916 AGED 30
Acknowledgments
Malcolm Lennox, Tanya Britton, Mike Collins
