Name
Ernest Sidney Searle
1885
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
25/03/1918
33
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Gunner
87936
Royal Garrison Artillery
405th Siege Bty.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
DUISANS BRITISH CEMETERY, ETRUN
V. F. 6.
France
Headstone Inscription
HE LOVED MUCH AND WAS BELOVED
UK & Other Memorials
Bishop's Stortford Town Memorial
Pre War
Ernest Sydney Searle was born in Newport, Essex in 1885 to Lydia Searle. On the 1891 Census he was living with his grandparents Joseph and Mary Searle and living at Belmont Hill, Newport Essex, where his grandfather was a chimney sweep. He was still with them in 1901 and working as a telegraph messenger. He married Louisa Mary Puncher at Bishop's Stortford on 9 July 1913 and was working as a postman on enlistment. His mother married Alfred Brooks in 1888 and also lived at Newport but did not have any other children. His widow was living at 4 Lindsey Road, Bishop's Stortford at the time of his death.
Wartime Service
He had served 7 years with the Hertfordshire Territorials and enlisted in Whitehall, London on 27 May 1916. He served in France from 26 September 1916 to 6 June 1917. He received a gunshot wound to his left hand which left him with a short stump on the first finger for which he was invalided to England and spent 108 days in hospital. He was returned to France at the end of December 1917 but died on 25 March 1918 at the 19th Casualty Clearing Station (which was positioned at Frevent at the time) from wounds received during action on the Somme crossings when there was an intense bombardment of the trenches followed by an enemy attack in large numbers. The Battalion withdrew and retired to Maricourt.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £8 and pay owing of £10 17s 6d. She also received a pension of 13 shillings 9d, which was later increased to £1 11 shillings. His mother, Mrs L M Searle,4 Lindsey Road, Bishop's Stortford, Herts, ordered his headstone inscription: "HE LOVED MUCH AND WAS BELOVED" His birth was registered as Ernest Sydney Searle, using two 'y's, however for the majority of other records Sydney is spelt as Sidney with an 'i'.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
