Name
Ernest Louis Plumb
1882
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
13/10/1915
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
2375
North Staffordshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CABARET-ROUGE BRITISH CEMETERY, SOUCHEZ
XVIII. C. 18.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
St Botolph's Church Memorial, Shenleybury (now lost) (*1), WW1 Marble Tablet and Roll of Honour, St Mary's Priory Church, Tutbury, Staffs
Pre War
Ernest Louis (Lewis) was born in 1882 in Hendon, Middlesex, the son of Alfred Ernest and Mary Plumb and one of six children. He was baptised on 4 June 1882 at St Mary, Hendon, when the family were living at The Hyde, and his father's occupation was given as coachman.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Shell Cottage, Kingsbury Lane, Hendon, Middlesex where his father was working as a gardener/domestic servant. His parents remained in Kingsbury, Hendon in 1901 but Ernest enlisted into the Royal Army Medical Corps on 20 June 1901 in London and served with them in the Boer War. He was discharged on 1 November 1904 at Netley, Hants, as medically unfit having contracted Scarlet Fever and is recorded as being admitted 1 November 1904 at Edgware Workhouse with his calling as Military.
He married Lily Harrison on 27 February 1909 in Burton on Trent and they had three children, Alfred, George and May. On the 1911 Census the family were living at 35 Church Street, Tutbury, Staffs where he was working as a cement maker. They had moved to 16 Castle Street, Tutbury, at the time of his enlistment in 1914.
His parents later lived at Beeches Garage, Shenley, Herts.
Wartime Service
He enlisted into the North Staffordshire Regiment at Burton on 31 August 1914 and served with the 6th Battalion in France from 5 March 1915. He was said to have been an expert bomb-thrower.
He was killed in action on 13 October 1915 and is buried in Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, France.
Additional Information
*1 Believed named on the lost memorial.
His widow received a war gratuity of £4 and pay owing of £1 11s 10d. She also received a pension of £1 3s 0d a week for herself and three children.
Ernest and his brothers, James and Thomas, who also served and died are all commemorated on the family headstone in Shenley (St. Botolph) Churchyard, Shenleybury. Their inscription reads:
ALSO OF
ERNEST LEWIS, JAMES, VICTOR, THOMAS LEONARD SONS OF THE ABOVE [Alfred Ernest & Mary Plumb]
KILLED IN ACTION 1914 1918
WHO PLUCKED THE FLOWER, THE MASTER THE GARDENER HELD HIS PEACE
N.B. Although his birth was registered with the middle name as Louis, some of the military records record his middle name as Lewis.
Brother Alfred joined the Royal Navy in 1903 at the age of 18 and survived the war, serving until 1919.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, tutburywarmemorials.org.uk, shenleyww1.wordpress.com
