Ernest Humphreys was born in Hemel Hempstead in late October 1898 and baptised in Watford on Friday, 17th April 1903. He was the youngest of ten children born to Edwin Humphreys and Sarah Dealey. The children were, Edwin, Herbert, Ernest Robert, Edith Florence, Percy (Percival), Horace, Sidney, Arthur Edwin, Robert Edwin and Ernest. Ernest Robert and Edith Florence both died young. Ernest’s father Edwin was a manual labourer and moved between Hemel Hempstead and Watford to find work. He was variously an ‘Agricultural Labourer’, ‘Bricklayer’ and finally, a ‘House Painter’ and by the time Edwin left school, his parents were back in the Hemel Hempstead area living in Apsley End. When he left school in 1912, he found employment as a ‘Fitter’s Mate’ although his employer is not known. This was the job he was doing on the outbreak of war and as soon as he was old enough, he went to Watford to volunteer for service.

Ernest enlisted on the 23rd October 1916 and was sent to the Army Reserve on the promise of future service. He was called up and mobilised on the 21st February 1917 and posted to the 24th Training Reserve Battalion at Shoreham-by-Sea in Sussex, where he spent the next year training. On enlistment Ernest was described as “5 feet 7¼ inches tall, 119 lbs in weight and of Fair physical development”. He was posted on the 16th August 1917 to the Royal Sussex Regiment and joined the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion in Edinburgh to complete his training. He was sent overseas on the 14th December 1917, posted to the 7th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment.

He saw his first serious action in March 1918 at the Battle of Bapaume, the opening encounter of the Somme Offensive 1918. During the battle Ernest was a casualty when he suffered a bullet wound to his left leg and was immediately taken down the line for treatment. The injury was serious enough that he was evacuated to England and admitted to the 3rd Northern General Hospital at Wharncliffe, Sheffield. Ernest remained in hospital until the 1st July 1918 and on his discharge was posted to the 3rd Battalion to get fit and await posting. This came on the 7th October when he was sent back to France to the Regiment’s Base Depot, where he remained for only a short period before being awarded some home leave. He immediately returned to Hemel Hempstead to see his family and then set off for the final time to go back to France. He arrived at the Base Depot a day late and was immediately fined one day’s pay before being posted to his new unit, the 2nd Battalion Royal Sussex on the 27th October 1918, at La Vallee Mulatre to the south-east of Cambrai. He joined as part of a draft of ninety-three men and by the same evening he was back in the trenches where he spent the rest of the month.

At the beginning of November, the 2nd Royal Sussex made ready to attack the enemy across the Sambre-Oise Canal near Catillon, which entailed bridging the canal and capturing the German positions. On the morning of the 4th November the action began but the Battalion soon ran into difficulties owning to insufficient material to bridge the canal. It took a little time to achieve the objective and there were a number of casualties during this effort. However, once the canal was crossed the enemy resistance melted away and the 2nd Royal Sussex overran the German lines. The Battalion War Diaries record that the casualties whilst crossing the canal totalled “…1 officer killed and 7 wounded. Other Ranks 6 Killed, 86 Wounded and 4 Missing”. Sadly, Ernest was amongst the men killed during the action.

He died on Monday, 14th November 1918. Ernest’s war service had lasted two years, and eleven days and he saw action on only ten of those days, having first had the misfortune to be wounded and then tragically, to be killed just seven days before the signing of the Armistice which ended the conflict.

Ernest is Remembered with Honour on the Vis-En-Artois Memorial, Pas de Calais, France, Panel 6

He was only 20 years old when he died.

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