No.8693, Sergeant, Ernest Edmund JARVIS
Aged 27
|
Ernest Edmund Jarvis was born in Bottisham in 1888 ( Newmarket Q1-1888 3B:526), son of William and Emma JARVIS(née HUNT).
1891 census...Aged 3, he was at Moor House, Heath Road, Bottisham with his father William JARVIS [44] farm labourer born Waterbeach; his mother Emma [42] born Swaffham Fen, Cambs; sister Fanny [14]; brothers John [12], Robert [6] and Henry [1]. All the children were born in Bottisham. 1901 census...Aged 13, a farm labourer, he was at "near the bus?", Quy Anglesey Road, Bottisham with his parents brother Henry and brother Richard [9] born Lode. The children now recorded as born in Lode,and father in Swaffham Bulbeck. 1911 census...Aged 23, recorded as Edward Ernest Jarvis (born Waterbeach) he was a Lance Corporal in the 2nd Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment in India (at Mhow, Central Provinces. His mother died in 1904.
The pension card has his father at "The Anchor", Bottisham.
|
|
He enlisted in Cambridge. The 2nd battalion East Lancashire regiment arrived back from South Africa on 1st October 1914 and and went to France on 5th November 1914, in
time for their men to gain the clasp to the 1914 Star, the generally accepted sign of a true "Old Contemptible". Many did not get this recognition since the
clasp was not instituted until after the war, had to be claimed and verified that the man had served within range of the enemy guns. Many families either
did not know about it, or perhaps had had quite enough of the war by then. As Ernest died of his wounds at a General Hospital in Boulogne it is impossible, in the absence of his Army records, to say exactly when or where he was wounded. His battalion had been holding 'A' lines trenches between Pont Logy and Port Arthur, to the southeast of Neuve Chapelle. The close support line was at Rouge-Croix, Brigade Reserve at Red Barn. The Newmarket Journal of 30th January 1915 stated:- DEATH OF SERGEANT JARVIS "News was received here on Monday of the death of Sergeant Jarvis,in hospital at Boulogne, on Saturday last. He was dangerously wounded by a bomb, and transported to hospital at Boulogne, where it was found that his legs and right hand were so seriously hurt that nothing could be done for the poor fellow. Much sympathy is felt for his father, his sister (Mrs Potter, of the Anchor)and other members of his family. The Union Jack floated at half mast at the Vineyards. Though he had been away for nine years the Sergeant was well known in this village and neighbourhood. He enlisted in the East Lancashire Regiment in October 1905, and was sent to Ireland, from there to India, and thence to South Africa. He was asked to join the Cape Mounted Police but he declined. On the outbreak of the war he was transferred to the fighting line, and did, as he said in one of his letters to his sister, "his level best, breaking the sixth Commandment daily until his turn should come." An almost identical piece appeared in the Cambridge Independent Press on 22nd January
photo: Rodney Gibson photo: Rodney Gibson click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details |
