Name
Ernest Wray
8 December 1891
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
24/08/1915
23
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
17002
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BROWN'S ROAD MILITARY CEMETERY, FESTUBERT
I. D. 12.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin, Parchment in St Martin's Church, Preston, Plaque in St Martin's Church, Preston
Pre War
Ernest Wray was born in Preston on 8 December 1891, the son of Alfred and Emily Wray (nee Currell),
On the 1901 Census the family were living at Chequers Lane, St Ippollitts, Herts, where his father was employed as a hurdle maker.
The 1911 Census records him living with uncle & aunt Herbert and Phyllis Jenkins at Chequers Lane, Preston and working as a domestic gardener.
His parents later lived at Back Lane, Preston.
Wartime Service
Ernest enlisted in Hitchin in 1914 and was allocated Regimental Number 17002. He was posted to the 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment and served in France and Flanders. He was killed in action near Festubert and was the first villager from Preston to die in the war.
The Battalion was in trenches in the Festubert sector from the 16th to the 24th August 1915. Two other ranks were killed in this period during which the Battalion was mainly engaged in the grisly task of burying men who had been killed in the 17th May 1915 fighting and creating cemeteries for them.
He was buried in Plot l, Row D, Grave 12 in the Brown's Road Military Cemetery in Festubert in France.
His newspaper In Memoriam reads: "In loving memory of Pte. E Wray, 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment, killed in action in France, August 24th, 1915, aged 23 years. Pte. E Wray, was the third son of Mr and Mrs Alfred Wray, of Preston. They have two other sons serving - Pte. Charles Wray. in Egypt, and Pte. Bob Wray, in France."
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £5 4s 2d. His mother received a pension of 5 shillings a week.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Philip Wray - www.prestonherts.co.uk/page137.html Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild,
