Name
Ernest Cannon
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
16/11/1916
26
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
19973
Bedfordshire Regiment
6st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 2C
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin
Pre War
Ernest was born circa 1891 in Hitchin and christened on 7 July 1891, the son of Charles and Edith Cannon.
In 1891 the family were living at 5 Whinbush Road, Hitchin. Charles (29), a carpenter and his wife Edith (32), with children: Margaret (5), Alice (4), Charles (2) and Ernest at 7 months.
They were still in Whinbush Road in 1901 and the family listed were both parents, Charles still a carpenter. Margaret was absent the other children listed above were present, plus Ethel (6) and Bertha May (4).
Then in 1911 the parents were there and listed were Charles, still a carpenter, Edith and the remaining children: Alice, Charles, Ernest, now 20 and working as a coach painter, for coach builder, Ethel and Bertha. The census recorded the marriage as 28 years with 6 children, all living.
When he enlisted, he was a postman in Hitchin.
Officially Ernest was recorded as born Hitchin and enlisting there when he enlisted in Notting Hill, Middx.
Wartime Service
He was allocated the Regimental Number 19973 in the 6th Battalion of the Bedfords and was killed in action in France.
On the 14th November 1916 the 6th Battalion was in an assembly position in Tournai Trench at Mailly-Maillet from which an attack was made on Frankfort Trench. The attack was unsuccessful. The following day an attack was made on Munich Trench with substantial casualties and on the 16th November the Battalion was entrenched on the Wayon Road and it is probable that Ernie was killed in this action.
He death was reported by an officer of the Loyal Lancashire Pioneers after a sergeant found his body in 'No Man's Land', however if it was it of the grave was lost.
He has no known grave, but is remembered on Pier/Face 2C of the great Thiepval Memorial to the Missing on the Somme in France.
Additional Information
After his death £4 9s 3d was authorised to go to his father on 10 April 1917 and later a war gratuity of £9 10s was authorised to be paid to her on 31 October 1919.
His pension card lists his mother, Edith Cannon of 86 Whinbush Road, Hitchin as his next of kin, and she was awarded a pension of ^s per week from 10 July 1917.
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
