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Private James Ernest Tate was killed in action in France on 27 Mar 1918. He was posted as missing and his wife’s appeal for information was printed in the Beverley Guardian 11 May 1918. On 29 Mar 1919 the paper noted that Beatrice Tate was told the day before that the Army Council had concluded that he was presumed dead. However in Dec 1919 the British Military Mission in Berlin heard from German authorities that he had been found dead by German forces, shot in the chest, on the battlefield of Villiers Aux Etables and was buried there on 6 Apr 1918. It is presumed that his body was never recovered and he is remembered on the Pozieres Memorial on the Somme. He was awarded the War and Victory medals
Ernest enlisted at Beverley in Feb 1916. He embarked for France on 17 Nov 1916 and was allocated to the 10th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment (1st Hull Pals), who had suffered heavy losses at Serre on 13 Nov, he was immediately posted to the 13th Battalion (4th Hull Pals) and joined them on 2 Dec. When they were disbanded on 8 Feb 1918, Ernest joined the 1st/4th Battalion, he survived the assault at Oppy Wood on 3 May 1917. On 27 Mar 1918 the 1st/4th were south of the Somme holding the front line, Ernest had only recently returned from hospital having been wounded on 28 Feb, he was killed in fighting described by the regimental historian, Wryall, as “grim and ferocious” with much hand to hand combat and use of the bayonet. British casualties were heavy.
Ernest was born in Beverley in Feb 1890 the son of George Tate, of Lockington, and Ellen Lount, of Beverley, he worked in his father’s hay cutting, straw dealing and carting business. The family lived in the Norwood area. On 29 Apr 1916 Ernest married Beatrice Rose at the Registry Office.
Ernest is commemorated on the Hengate Memorial and on the East Riding Memorial in Beverley Minster. He is also on St Mary’s Church Roll of Honour and the Norwood Street Shrine.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |