BENNETT, Ernest

Ernest Bennett was the son of Edward and Priscilla Bennett of 27a Brook Street, Stourbridge. He was sent to Old Swinford Hospital in 1891 and in 1895 he was apprenticed to Mr Lavender, a tailor of Stourbridge. He moved to Aston and was married with one child. He enlisted in January 1915 and joined the Worcesters. He was posted to the 4th Battalion which saw action in the 29th Division at Gallipoli in 1915, on the Somme in 1916 and at Passchendaele and Cambrai in 1917. In the second of their Spring offensives in 1918 the German forces attacked on the Lys near Armentičres on the 9th April. In several hard days fighting the Worcesters suffered heavy casualties including Private Ernest Bennett, who was killed by a shell on the 17th April. He was 36 years of age and is commemorated on the Ploegsteert, Stourbridge, Old Swinford Hospital and St. Thomas's church Memorials, together with his brother, Frederick.