Name
Ernest Southgate
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
12/12/1917
48
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Company Sergeant Major
9th Mississauga Horse
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Searched but not found
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TORONTO (ST. JOHN'S NORWAY) CEMETERY
Section 6. Row 8. Grave 84.
Canada
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Addenda to the Prirton Village Memorial
Biography
Serjeant Major E Southgate came to light in a report from the Hertfordshire Express dated January 19th 1918 and entitled ‘Old Pirtonian’s Death at Toronto’. So the newspaper certainly believed there to be a Pirton connection. A similar report also appeared in the North Hertfordshire Mail dated January 17th 1918. From these papers we know that he had kept The White Horse public house (where The Motte and Bailey now stands), but a more substantial connection than that has yet to be found, as he does not appear in the parish and census records.
He had worked at the Toronto Mobilisation Centre, but at the time of his death he was working for the Department of the Assistant Director of Medical Services in the Toronto Military District. He fell ill with nephritis, which is an inflammation of one or both of the kidneys that can lead to kidney failure. He was admitted to hospital on June 9th 1917, but his condition deteriorated and he later died.
We don’t know what his responsibilities were, but he seems to have been very well thought of as several senior military staff attended his funeral as well as ‘all members of the Toronto Mobilisation Centre staff who were there during Southgate’s time.’
All the other men listed in this book were considered to be on active service, but is that the case for this man? He was not fighting, but it can be argued that he was still doing his military duty. In the mobilisation centre he would have been involved in the provision of men for military service, but research has not yet provided any further information about this organisation and very little about the medical history of the Medical Services in the Toronto Military District. However, they were responsible for all the medical services provided by the military in that area and that certainly involved treating the soldiers who had returned due to illness or injury. One extract from the war diary for Davisville Military Hospital in Toronto, for April 1918, gives the following statistics for the month and they are probably typical:
‘Patients admitted 469, discharged 423, remaining from the previous month 712 and the number of amputation cases 433. Other statistics show that 84 operations, 4774 dressings and 55 artificial limbs were supplied.’
Some may question whether Ernest’s service is classified as war service, but in 2009 his name was added to the Commonwealth War Grave Commission’s records. This was a result of research on behalf of the Records Manager & Administrator/Gestionnaire des archives et Administratrice, Canadian Agency /Agence Canadienne. They looked at some four hundred names listed in Canada's Book of Remembrance who were not recorded by the Commission as war dead; three hundred were accepted by the CWGC for war grave treatment and Company Sergeant Major Ernest Southgate was one of those men.
Additional Information
Text from the book: The Pride of Pirton and updated.
The online Canadian Service Records give: SOUTHGATE, Ernest, Ref: RG9-II-B-7, Finding Aid 9-60, Volume 73, Item Number: 630689, Record Group: Non-Permanent Active Militia, but at the time of viewing (Oct 2022) the website was being updated to this source should be reviewed for new information.
Acknowledgments
The Pride of Pirton book – www.pirton.org.uk/prideofpirton Chris Ryan / Tony French / Jonty Wild
