Name
Ernest William Salmon
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
15/09/1916
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Rifleman
4036
London Regiment (First Surrey Rifles)
1st/21st (County of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 13 C.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Sawbridgeworth Town Memorial, Great St Mary’s Church Memorial, Sawbridgeworth
Pre War
Ernest Salmon was born at Widdington in 1893, and in the 1911 census, he was living at Rowney Bury Lodge which his father had as a tied cottage in his job as a ‘Domestic Gardener’. Ernest himself was recorded as a ‘Grocer’s Assistant’ in the same census.
Ernest was living in Sawbridgeworth, Herts. when he enlisted
Wartime Service
He served in the 1/21st Battalion London Regiment (First Surrey Rifles).
In late Summer 1916, Ernest’s Battalion took part in the Somme offensive. The date of Ernest’s death is given as 15 September 1916. On the morning of that day, at 0630, the Battalion moved to the front at Mametz Wood and awaited the attack signal to assault the German held High Wood. At 1530, the signal was given, and the Battalion attacked a feature called ‘Starfish Redoubt’. Sadly, although the German line was taken, the casualties for the Battalion were terrible. Of 669 Officers and men who attacked, only 62 were left. The attack left 607 soldiers killed or wounded. One of the dead was Ernest Salmon.
His body was lost and Ernest has no known grave. He is commemorated on Thiepval Memorial. He was aged 23.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Douglas Coe
