Name
Ernest James Bennett
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
20085
Dorset Regiment
6th Battalion
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
All of John Bennett’s three sons Walter, Frederick and Ernest served in the Great War. Ernest Bennett was the youngest, and was born in the autumn of 1895 at Abbots Langley. The family had lived at 18 Adrian Road since before the 1901 Census, and remained there until after the War. John Bennett was employed as an Asylum Attendant.
On 10th June 1915 Ernest attested at Whitehall in London, and the next day joined the Army Service Corps (ASC) at Grove Park. At enlistment he gave his occupation as a Motor Driver. “Lorry Driver” was added as a hand-written comment in the margin. However on his Medical Form his occupation was recorded as a Chauffeur, so maybe the comment related to a potential role in the ASC, added by the recruiting officer at enlistment.
He was posted to the ASC on 24th June 1915 and was based at Chatham. On 19th July he re-located to Marlborough and remained there until he embarked with the 608 Company of the 40th Division at Southampton on 30th May 1916, arriving at Rouen in France the next day. Ernest remained with the ASC until 24th September 1917 when he was compulsorily transferred to the Dorsetshire Regiment, and was posted to the 6th Battalion with the rank of Private. The ravages of War had depleted the man-power of the British Army and able bodied men were posted from support services to Front Line units.
The Dorset’s were in action in the Battles of Passchendaele in the Autumn of 1917.From 22nd November to 6th December Ernest was granted Leave in the Field, and then served with the 6th Dorset’s for the rest of the War. Throughout 1918 the 6th Dorsetshire’s fought in the defence of the German Spring Offensive from March, and then were in action at the Battles of Amiens, Bapaume, Havrincourt, and Cambrai, as the Allied armies regained lost ground, and pushed the Germans back during the last hundred days of the War. After the Armistice the battalion withdrew to the area around Amiens, and de-mobilisation started in January 1919. On 19th May 1919 Ernest undertook a Disability Examination at Le Harve, and returned to England on 29th May. By this time he had been promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal. He was de-mobilised on 3rd July 1919 and returned to the family home at 18 Adrian Road, Abbots Langley.
Ernest and his two brothers Frederick and Walter, all survived the War.
Additional Information
Formerly in the Army Service Corps
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
