Name
Ernest Owen Claridge
1889
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
15/09/1916
26
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
20704
Bedfordshire Regiment
8th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 2 C.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley
Pre War
Ernest Owen Claridge was born in 1889 in Hemel Hempstead, the son and youngest child of Charles and Elizabeth Claridge, and baptised at St Paul's Church, Hemel Hempstead on 26 September 1890. He was one of ten children.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at 50 Queen Street, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a Carpenter. They remained in Queen Street in 1901 but had moved to No. 72.
His father died in 1902, aged 62 and on the 1911 Census he was living with his brother Horace and his widowed mother at No. 63 Queen Street at which time he was working as a packer at John Dickinson & Co at Apsley Mills. He remained working there until enlistment.
His mother later moved to 70 Queen Street, Hemel Hempstead.
Wartime Service
Ernest enlisted in Bedford in June 1916 and after three months basic training he was sent to France and served with the 8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment.
He saw action at the Battle of Flers-Courcette, a battle in which tanks were used for the first time. He was killed in action on 15 September 1916, the first day of the battle. The newly invented tanks used were unreliable and mistakes were made when men were killed by 'friendly fire'. Heavy casualties were sustained before the attack was called off on 22 September.
He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His mother received and war gratuity of £5 and pay owing of £2 14s 9d. She also received a pension of 5 shillings a week.
It was reported in the Hemel Hempstead Gazette of 11 November 1916 that a memorial service was held at St Paul's Church, Hemel Hempstead for Ernest Claridge and four other soldiers from the parish.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org.,www.hemelheroes.com.
