Name
Ernest Rolph
1894
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
06/05/1917
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
265173
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
MENDINGHEM MILITARY CEMETERY
II. C. 12.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
REST IN PEACE
UK & Other Memorials
Great Gaddesden War Memorial, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford, Not on the Hemel Hempstead memorials, We are not aware of any memorial in Gaddesden Row
Pre War
Ernest Rolph was born in 1894 in Great Gaddesden, the son of Arthur and Annie Rolph, of Gaddesden Row, Hemel Hempstead and one of eight children.(2 brothers and 6 daughters). He was baptised there on 29 July 1894. (N.B. the surname was spelt Rolfe).
On the 1901 Census the family were living at Great Gaddesden where his father was working as a horseman on a farm. They remained there in 1911 at which time Ernest was working as a farm labourer.
Wartime Service
Ernest enlisted in St Albans and served with the 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment in France from 6 November 1914, initially under reg. no, 1861. (This number seems to have been issued in 1912).
In early May 1917 the Herts were located at Ypres in the Hill Top sub section. Only one casualty is recorded in this period following relation by Germans for trench raids by British troops, so presumably this was Ernest.
He died of wounds on 6 May 1917, aged 22, and is buried at Mendinghem Military Cemetery, Belgium.
Additional Information
His mother, Mrs A Rolph, Gaddesden Row, Hemel Hempstead, Herts. ordered his headstone inscription: "REST IN PEACE" His father received a war gratuity of £13 and pay owing of £21 10s 10d. His mother received a pension of 5 shillings a week. Brother Leonard served with Grenadier Guards as Guardsman 24907 from Dec 1915, sustaining GSW Arm in Mar 1918 and discharge from service Feb 1919.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer, Neil Cooper
Jonty Wild, dacorumheritage,org.uk, hemelatwar.org.
