1885 - 1916
CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916
Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916
Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916
Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918
L/Cpl 27321 Ernest Albert Stuart
- Age: 25
- From: Liverpool
- Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
- K.I.A Friday 22nd March 1918
- Commemorated at: Pozieres Memorial
Panel Ref: P21-23
Ernest Albert Stuart was born in Liverpool on 12th March 1893, the son of Alexander Stuart and Ellen Sarah (née White). He was baptised on 12th June in St. Peter’s, Liverpool, his parents then living in Martensen Street. His father was a Police Constable born in The Gorbals, Glasgow, and his mother was born in Brighton, Sussex. They married in Belfast in 1879 and had eight children, according to the 1911 census. Alexander Robert James was born in Belfast in 1880, and by 1883 his parents have moved to Liverpool, where his father works as a Police Constable. Their next three children sadly died young: George Arthur born in 1883 (died at age 1), Alice Isabel 1884 (died at age 2), and Edward John 1886 (died at age 3), his parents then living at 21 Overbury Street. Their last four children survived infancy: Arthur Hamilton born in 1889, Ernest 1893, Gertrude Alexandra 1894, and Emily Jessie in 1898.
The 1901 census finds them at 37 Martensen Street, with five children, Ernest is 8. His father is a Police Constable and eldest brother Alexander, 21, is a grocer.
Ernest attended Boaler Street School, then enrolled in Newsham School in 1903 and left in 1907 when he turned 14 to start work. His brother Arthur worked for Stephen Roberts & Son, estate agents, before the war.
His sister Gertrude died in 1910, aged 15.
By 1911 the family is living at 3 Mallow Road, near Newsham Park. His father is 59, now retired from the police, his mother is 53, Arthur, 21, and Ernest, 18, are both clerks in an estate agency, and Emily is 13, at school. His eldest brother Alexander is married and working in Newcastle as a musician.
Ernest enlisted in Liverpool joining the 19th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private 27321. The amount of the War Gratuity suggests that he served 33 months, enlisting in about June 1915.
His father died at 63 in August 1916.
He embarked for France on 17th December 1915 and he was serving in ‘C’ Company, 10th Platoon as Lance-Corporal No 27321 when he was killed in action on the 22nd March 1918 aged 25, during the German Spring Offensive.
He was initially declared Missing at St. Quentin on 22nd March 1918. His brother, Mr. Alex. Stuart, of 3 Mallow Road, Fairfield, Liverpool, wrote to the International Red Cross in hopes that Ernest had been taken prisoner, but in a reply sent on 10th July 1918, learned that they held no information. His death was later presumed for official purposes to have occurred on 22nd March 1918.
The Battalion diary provides an insight into the events of the day:
22nd GERMAINE – HAM- MOYENCOURT
The battalion moved up accordingly being in position at 6:30 a.m. About 3pm the enemy attacked the left of our position and advanced on our left flank towards FLUQUIERES. At 4:30 pm an attack was launched on our front and the enemy forced his way through on our right. The remainder of the Battalion was forced to retire to south of FLUQUIERES. During this engagement the Battalion lost 11 Officers and About 21 O.R. The order was given to retire to the defences at HAM. The Battalion by this time was very weak, and passing through the 20th Division took up positions in HAM, as ordered, getting into position at 2am.
Ernest has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial.
The POZIERES MEMORIAL relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918.
The cemetery and memorial were designed by W.H. Cowlishaw, with sculpture by Laurence A. Turner. The memorial was unveiled by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien on 4 August 1930.
Ernest’s name appeared in the list of Missing on 28th May 1918 in the Weekly Casualty List.
His brother Arthur enlisted in July 1915, and was serving in the 1/7th K.L.R. when he was wounded (machine gun bullet to the right shoulder) on 09th April 1918 at Festubert during the Battle of the Lys. He was declared Missing and it wasn’t until 15th October 1918 that his name was published in the Weekly Casualty List as previously reported Missing, now reported Prisoner of War. He was repatriated in early 1919 and returned to his job with the estate agents. Arthur had a son in 1919 he named Ernest Albert.
Soldiers Effects and Pension to his mother Ellen.
In 1939 his mother Ellen, 83, is living at 144 Alder Road with married daughter Emily, 41, and her husband, a police constable. His mother died in 1943, age 86.
Ernest is commemorated on the following Memorials:
St. Philip and St. David’s Church, Newsham Park
Boaler Street School
We currently have no further information on Ernest Albert Stuart, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us
Killed On This Day.
(108 Years this day)Sunday 16th June 1918.
Pte 57615 Fred William Preddy
23 years old
(105 Years this day)
Thursday 16th June 1921.
Captain Leonard George Duncan
43 years old