Capt Arthur de Bells Adam (MC)
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

Pte 47259 Ernest Carter

Age: 34
From: Ashton upon Mersey
Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
D.O.W Friday 12th October 1917
Commemorated at: Bailleul Cc Ext
Panel Ref: III.E.101

Ernest Carter was born in Ashton on Mersey on 6th January 1883, the son of Henry Carter and his wife Jane (née Eachus). Henry, from Uttoxeter, Staffs, and Jane, born in Crewe, married in 1867. Of the surviving children, Ernest had older siblings Annie, Walter, Herbert, and Henry (Harry), and a younger sister Ada.

Ernest attended Sanbach National School.

In 1891 the family, with six children, is living in Ashton Lane, Ashton Upon Mersey. Ernest is 8.

In 1901 they are still in Ashton Lane His father is a domestic coachman. Henry, 20, and Earnest, 17, are domestic gardeners. Also in the household are their widowed daughter Annie and her son Ernest, 3.

The 1911 census finds Ernest living with his parents at 3 York Terrace, Woodfield Grove, Ashton on Mersey. His father is 73, a domestic coachman, his mother is 63, and Ernest is 28, single, a domestic gardener.

They state they have had eight children, three of whom have died.

He married Grace Broady in Bucklow in the summer of 1911 and their son Ralph was born on 13th February 1914. His father appears to have died in 1914.

Ernest enlisted in Ashton-Under-Lyne and was serving in the 19^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 47259 when he died of wounds on the 12^th October 1917 at No.53 Casualty Clearing Station.

He now rests at Bailleul CC Ext, France where his headstone shows his rank as Private, However, CWGC graves registration form and pension card show Lance Corporal.

Bailleul was occupied on 14 October 1914 by the 19th Brigade and the 4th Division. It became an important railhead, air depot and hospital centre, with the 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 11th, 53rd, 1st Canadian and 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Stations quartered in it for considerable periods. It was a Corps headquarters until July 1917, when it was severely bombed and shelled, and after the Battle of Bailleul (13-15 April 1918), it fell into German hands and was not retaken until 30 August 1918.

The earliest Commonwealth burials at Bailleul were made at the east end of the communal cemetery and in April 1915, when the space available had been filled, the extension was opened on the east side of the cemetery. The extension was used until April 1918, and again in September, and after the Armistice graves were brought in from the neighbouring battlefields.

BAILLEUL COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION contains 4,403 Commonwealth burials of the First World War; 11 of the graves made in April 1918 were destroyed by shell fire and are represented by special memorials. There are also 17 British burials of the Second World War (all 1940) and 154 German burials from both wars (10 of which are Second World War).

During the Second World War the cemetery suffered major bomb damage that necessitated the replacement of nearly 200 headstones after the war.

Both the Commonwealth plot in the communal cemetery and the extension were designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

His widow announced his death in the Nantwich Guardian on 26th October 1917:

“On 12 inst., died of wounds received in action, Lance Corporal E. (“Dick”) Carter, King’s (Liverpool Regiment), beloved husband of Grace Carter of Langroyd Lodge, Spath Road, West Didsbury, aged 34.”

Two years after his death, his family placed an In Memoriam notice in the Runcorn Guardian on 10th October 1919:

“In loving memory of Ernest (Dick) Carter, King’s (Liverpool Regt.) died of wounds October 12th, 1917. From Mother and Brothers, Ashton on Mersey.“

His widow Grace, at Langroyd Lodge, Spath Road, West Didsbury, and later at 28 Brown Street, Northenden, Cheshire, received Ernest’s effects, including a £5 Grant, a War Gratuity of £4-10s and a pension of 18/9d per week.

His mother died at age 74 in 1921. Grace remarried in 1930. In 1939 Grace, 53 is living in Ivy Cottage, Ford Lane, Manchester. Her husband is 73, is retired, incapacitated. Son Ralph is 25, a grocery and provision chargehand. Her husband died in 1964, aged 97. Grace died in 1972, at the age of 85 and Ralph died in 1984, aged 70.

Ernest is commemorated on the following memorials-

Sale and Ashton Upon Mersey Memorial

St, Mary’s Church, Sale.

We currently have no further information on Ernest Carter, 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.

(110 Years this day)
Wednesday 19th April 1916.
Pte 15260 William Porter
27 years old

(109 Years this day)
Thursday 19th April 1917.
Pte 57857 James Carter
19 years old

(109 Years this day)
Thursday 19th April 1917.
Pte 57792 Albany Howarth
19 years old

(109 Years this day)
Thursday 19th April 1917.
Pte 48091 William King
38 years old

(108 Years this day)
Friday 19th April 1918.
2nd Lieut Rowland Gill (MC) (MM)
33 years old