Ernest Owen Claridge was born in Hemel Hempstead in late 1889 and baptised on Friday, 26th September 1890 at St Paul’s Church in the town. He was youngest child born to Charles Claridge and Elizabeth Markham who had ten children in all. Ernest’s older siblings were: William, Alfred, Mary Anne, Millicent, Emma, Annie, Horace, Nellie and Ellen.

When Ernest was born his family were living at 50 Queen Street in Hemel Hempstead and his father Charles worked as a ‘Carpenter’. By 1901 the family had moved a short distance to 72 Queen Street and Ernest’s sister Emma had married and her husband Arthur Gurney and their daughter Lily lived with the family.

A year later in 1902, Ernest’s father Charles died aged sixty-two and by 1911 only Ernest and his older brother Horace were living with their mother Elizabeth, now at 63 Queen Street. Ernest aged twenty-one was working as a ‘Packer’ at Apsley Mills with John Dickinson & Co. Limited. By this time the Claridge family had lived on Queen Street since Charles and Elizabeth married in 1875 and Elizabeth would remain on Queen Street until her death in 1929, a total of fifty-four years.

Ernest was called up for service under The Military Service Act of the 27th January 1916 which brought conscription into play for the first time in the war. Along with the Defence of the Realm Act, it was possibly the most important piece of legislation in placing Britain onto a “total war” footing. The procedure for calling up the classes of men defined in the Act was laid down in Army Council Instruction 336 of 1916. The procedure was generally the same as that used to call up men from the Groups of the Derby Scheme.

Ernest would have been immediately categorised as ‘Class A’ (over 18 and with no exemptions) and further classified in ‘Group 8’ based on the year of his birth. As a result, he enlisted with the 8th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment in June 1916 and after his basic training was sent to France three months later in September.

His time at the Front was brief and within two weeks of arriving he fought in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette where tanks were used for the first time in a war. An account of the first day of the battle was recorded in the Battalion War Diary: "15 Sep 1916 Battalion ordered to take QUADRILATERAL assisted by the Heavy Section of the M.G. Corps with "TANKS" advance about 500 yds NE and dig in. Battn was in a position for attack about 4.30 a.m. ZERO hour 6.20 a.m. Three waves were supplied by D, D [sic] and A Coys under Capt Hatch , 2/Lt Hodges and Lt Draisey respectively to attack the QUADRILATERAL, which was on our left flank, whilst B Coy co-operated by bombing down trench leading to it. At 6.0 a.m. heavy artillery opened slow barrage on Line MORVAL - LES BOEUFS. At ZERO hour (6.20 a.m.) intense artillery barrage opened and unluckily was cut short where our 3 companies were drawn up for the attack in shell holes. This mistake caused many casualties. Our attacking companies pushed forward and though supported by 1/The Buffs and later re-enforced by the 2/York & Lancaster Regt failed to take the position. "TANKS" did not arrive to assist and the position was not heavily shelled previous to the attack. Brigade ordered original trenches to be held and await orders. As battalion had suffered very severely in casualties, 6 Officers killed and 7 wounded we were relieved by 2/Y & L at 6.0.p.m. and put in brigade reserve in trenches S.E. of GUILLEMONT." 

Despite the use of tanks, the attack failed, and the casualties incurred by the 8th Battalion were high.

Ernest died during the assault, killed in action on Friday, 15th September 1916.

His death was commemorated in a memorial service held at St Paul’s Church on Sunday, 5th November 1916 brief details of which were published in the following week’s edition of the Hemel Gazette.

He was also commemorated on the John Dickinson & Co. Limited war memorial in Apsley.

Ernest is Remembered with Honour on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France, Pier and Face 2 C.

He was 26 years old when he died

Ernest was entitled to the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.