LOMAS, ERNEST

Photo with kind permission from the Uttoxeter Advertiser

 

Sources:

CWGC

SDGW

Uttoxeter Advertiser

Other

Parents

Thomas and Emma Lomas

Yes

 

 

 

Mrs. Lomas

 

 

7c, 7d

3

Where born

Uttoxeter

 

Yes

 

3

When born

About 1895

 

 

 

6

Address

Mother: New Street during the war.

 

 

7b, 7c, 7d

3

Parents: 6, Charlton Terrace, The Wharf, Uttoxeter

Yes

 

 

 

Spouse

 

 

 

 

 

Children

 

 

 

 

 

Employment Before Joining up

Fitter at the Leighton Ironworks

 

 

7d

 

Messrs Bamfords Leighton Ironworks, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire

 

 

 

3

Leighton Ironworks

 

 

7a

 

Where enlisted

Uttoxeter

 

Yes

 

3

Regiment

North Staffordshire (Prince of Wales’s)

Yes

Yes

7d, 7g

2, 3

Unit

1st Bn.

Yes

Yes

 

2, 3

Rank

Private

Yes

Yes

7b, 7c, 7d, 7e, 7f, 7g

2, 3

Service Number

40007

Yes

Yes

 

2, 3

Date of Death

11 January 1917

Yes

Yes

7f, 7g

1, 2, 3

Age at time of death

22

Yes

 

7d

 

Where Killed or died

Pas de Calais

 

 

 

 

Hulluch

 

 

7g

1

France/Flanders

 

Yes

 

 

How he died

Killed in Action

 

Yes

7d, 7e, 7f

3

Killed in Action as a result of trench-mortar fire

 

 

 

1

Location of Grave or Memorial

Philosophe British Cemetery, Mazingarbe - Grave I. L. 13.

Yes

 

 

 

Uttoxeter Town War Memorial

 

 

 

3

Awards

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ernest was one of Uttoxeter's Territorials at the outbreak of war.

He went  out with his regiment at the end of August 1914, soon after the outbreak of war3, 7a. This makes him one of the revered band of men known as the “Old Contemptibles”.

He was wounded in the shoulder on 13th October 1915 in the charge on the Hohenzollern Redoubt3, 7c, 7d and then on the 12th of July 1916 it was reported in the Uttoxeter Advertiser3 that he had been wounded again – this time he had received a bayonet thrust through his hand7c, 7d.

Ernest was killed in action on 11th January 1917 in the course of his battalion moving into the trenches to relieve the West Kent Regiment. The War Diary for his Regiment, the 1st Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment, recorded his death in the following way.

11 Jan [1917]  Relieve 8th R[egiment] W[est] Kents in HULLUCH Section, RIGHT Subsection. Relief complete about midday. Some trench mortar activity in NEW CUT and SUPPORT LINE. Casualties 1.O.R. [1 Other Rank] killed, 3 wounded.

The “1.O.R.” was Ernest.

In his obituary, the Uttoxeter Advertiser7d quoted from a letter which the officer commanding his unit had written to his mother:

"I am writing to you to tell you the circumstances of your son’s death, and to tell you how much he will be missed. He joined my Lewis Gun detachment in September (1916), and has been with them since then. He was very quick and intelligent, and at the time of his death was acting No. 2 in his gun team, which is the second highest position. I had him for some time as my orderly, and I can assure you that he always did his work excellently, and will be greatly missed both by his fellow gunners and by myself. He was killed in the front line trenches by a German trench mortar bomb, and mercifully could have suffered no pain. It was the sort of death he would have liked - a soldier's death and a swift one.".

The roll of honour says that he died in Hulluch. His brother, Thomas, also served3, and lost a leg as a result of severe wounds received during the fighting at the Hohenzollern Redoubt7b, 7, 7dc. He survived the war.

At some time after his death his parents moved to 6, Charlton Terrace, The Wharf, Uttoxeter, because that is the address which is stated in his CWGC record.

 

This memorial notice was posted in the Uttoxeter Advertiser in January 19167f to mark the first anniversary of is death

 

 

This notice was posted in January 19197g to mark the second anniversary of his death