Ernest Hope

War Service

On enlistment Ernest was just 18 years old and 5 feet 11 inches. He was attached to the army reserves on 13th September 1916 and then posted on 16th February 1917. His records show him to be a bricklayer’s apprentice and his next of kin is listed as his father George of Rose Dene, Denby Dale Road, Wakefield. Ernest was sent to France with the British Expeditionary Force on 9th January 1918 firstly with the 14th Battalion and then the 11th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry as Private 75586 Hope.
Ernest was reported missing on 26th March 1918 and then the next entry reported that “death accepted for official purposes as having occurred on or since 26th March 1918”. A letter in his service records stated that he was on an official German list of dead and that his paybook had been returned as evidence.
Ernest is remembered on the Pozieres Memorial near the little town of Albert on the Somme. He was entitled to the British War Medal and the Victory Medal which, together with his pay and war gratuity, were sent to his father George. The Commonwealth War Commission records the address of George and Mary as “Dalegarth”, Thornes Road, Wakefield.

Family Life

Ernest was born on 26th September 1898 and baptised at St Anne’s Wrenthorpe on 2nd November the same year. His parents were George, a builder and Mary. George – whose full name was George Gladstone Brooke Hope – and Mary Roberts had been married at St Anne’s Church Wrenthorpe on 4th April 1896.
By 1901 the family had moved to Plumpton Street, Wakefield and George was said to be 30 and Mary 35. Ernest aged 2 also had a 3 year-old sister Daisy.
In 1911 they were recorded as living at 25 Plumpton Street with Daisy working as a kitchen girl while Ernest was still at school. There were two further additions to the family – Jack aged 9 and Doris aged 7. Sadly Doris died in 1914 aged just 10.

Pozieres Memorial