Ernest Arthur Morgan was
born on 27th May 1892 in Charlton, Hitchin Hertfordshire, the son of
Harry and Emma Morgan of Charlton. He
attended firstly the Hitchin British Infants’ School in Hitchin and then
progressed to the Hitchin Boys’ British School.
He was admitted there on 29 May 1899 and left on 25 May 1906. He was
then apprenticed to a butcher, the same as his elder brother, William Henry
Morgan, my grandfather.
In the 1911 Census Harry
is described as a 42 year old Mineral Water Maker employed in a Hotel, Emma is
also aged 42. William Morgan is aged 21
and a Butcher Salesman in a meat purveyors, as is 18 year old Ernest. The family lived in an 8 roomed dwelling in
Charlton, near Hitchin Herts.
Ernie enlisted in 1914 in
Hitchin but there are no Service Records remaining. He was Private G/2680 in the 9th
Battalion, East Surrey Regiment. The photograph above was taken in Hitchin
before he left for France. He entered
France and Flanders with his Regiment. Part of the 72nd Brigade, 24th
Infantry Division on 5th October 1915. The Division had been at Loos in September
1915 and had gone up to the Ypres area afterwards. Ernie is recorded as dying of wounds received
in action on 10th November 1915 and is buried at Reninghelst New
Military Cemetery near Poperinge in Belgium.
He was 23. My grandfather said
his brother was shot by a German sniper.
The photograph below
was sent to Ernie’s parents soon after he was buried in Belgium. His name is clearly written on the wooden
cross – ‘In Memory of 2680 Pte E. Morgan C. Coy 9th East
Surrey. Died of wounds Nov 9 1915’. This
temporary wooden cross was replaced by the standard white stone CWGC gravestone
at the bottom of which his family chose the moving words ‘Peace Perfect Peace,
God is Love’.
Poperinge was used by the
British Army as the ‘gateway to the battlefields of the northern Ypres
Salient’. It was an important rail centre behind the front line and was used
for the distribution of supplies, for billeting troops, for casualty clearing
stations and for troops at rest from duty in the forward trench areas.
Thousands of troops passed through this small town at some time or other.
Ernie was always in his
family’s thoughts, his photograph hanging over the door in my grandfather’s
home, just where he could see it as he sat in his armchair.
My grandfather gave me,
his youngest grandchild, his brother’s medals and scroll. Ernie received the 1914-15 Star, War Medal
and Victory Medal. These are one of my
most treasured possessions.
My parents and I visited
Reninghelst over thirty years ago; a poignant day that I will always remember. It was especially moving for my Mum who had
heard from a child all about her Uncle Ernie. We located his grave, amongst a lot of
Canadian casualties, and left a message in the visitor’s book.
It is now, this year, 100
years since Ernie died. It is also true that a person is never completely gone
so long as someone remembers them – Uncle Ernie will never be forgotten in our
family.
