Ernest Antcliffe

Ernest was the son of Herbert and Mary Antcliffe (née Jennings). His father Herbert was born in Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire, in 1857, the son of Matthew Antcliff (sic), an agricultural worker, and his wife Mary (née Sampson) who were married at Edwinstowe St Mary in 1855. In 1861 the family was living in Carburton near Worksop. In 1871 aged 13 Herbert was a servant at Woodhouse Hill Farm, Holbeck near Worksop, working for Mary Butcher, a publican. By 1881 he was a groom (domestic) at Park Hall, Warsop, in the employ of Francis Hall JP, farmer. His mother Mary was born in Mansfield Woodhouse in 1858, the daughter of Samuel and Mary Jennings. The family lived at Park Farm House, Sunnydale, Mansfield Woodhouse; Samuel was a farm bailiff. In 1881 Mary was working from home as a dressmaker. Herbert and Mary were married at Mansfield Woodhouse St Edmund King & Martyr on 1 June 1886. They had four children: Wallace Richard (Richard) b. Blackheath Kent 1888 (reg. 1889 Greenwich); Janie Gertrude b. Blackheath 1891; William Matthew b. Mansfield Woodhouse 1893 bap. St Edmund 3 June 1894 and Samuel Ernest (Ernest) b. Mansfield Woodhouse birth registered 1896 (J/M/F). In 1891 Herbert (33) a coachman (domestic) and Mary (33) were living on Hassendean Road, Greenwich, London, with their son Richard (2). They had returned to Nottinghamshire by 1891 when they were living at 35 Station Street, Mansfield Woodhouse. Herbert was working as a milk seller. Three of their four children were in the home on the night of the census: Richard, William (7) and Ernest (5). Their daughter Janie was a visitor in the home of Elizabeth Dole, a widow, who was the publican of the New Inn, Station Street, Mansfield Woodhouse. Herbert and Mary were living at 16 Station Street in 1911; he was now working at a colliery as a wagoner greaser. All four children were at home: Richard a carter (Midland Station), Janie a grocer's shop assistant and William and Ernest who were both working at a colliery as motor drivers (below ground). A notice of Ernest's death, which was published in the local paper in May 1919, gave his parents' address as Sun Dial House, Mansfield Woodhouse, but the later CWGC record gave their address as 'Lyndhurst', Morven Avenue, Mansfield Woodhouse. Herbert died in 1932 and in 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled his widow Mary was living with their unmarried daughter Janie on Albert Street, Mansfield. Mary died in 1954.

1911 - motor driver (colliery, below ground)

61st Battalion Machine Gun Corps Private Ernest Antcliffe was reported missing in action on 21 March 1918. However, his death on that date was not confirmed until May the following year. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, France (Panel 90 to 93). CWGC - History of the Pozieres Memorial (extract): The memorial 'relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918.'

CWGC: surname Antcliff. Civil records and Registers of Soldiers' Effects : surname Antcliffe CWGC 'Additional information': parents Herbert and Mary Antcliff (sic) of 'Lyndhurst', Morven Avenue, Mansfield Woodhouse, Notts. Mansfield Reporter, ‘Deaths’, 16 May 1919: Antcliffe. Missing March 21st, 1918, now officially reported died same date, Pte Ernest Antcliffe, Machine Gun Corps, youngest son of Mr and Mrs Antcliffe, Sun Dial House, Mansfield Woodhouse.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) Mansfield Reporter, ‘In Memoriam’, 26 March 1920: ‘Antcliffe. In ever-loving memory of our youngest son, Pte Ernest Antcliffe, Machine Gun Corps, presumed killed March 21st, 1918. From his loving Father, Mother, Brothers and Sister.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) Registers of Soldiers' Effects: his father Herbert was his legatee WW1 Pension Ledgers Index Cards: named his mother, Mary