Ernest Scott was killed in action on this day in 1914

Ernest Scott was born in Burnley, Lancashire in October 1886. His parents were Thomas (a farmer) and Elizabeth Scott née Lambert. He had 5 older siblings - Sarah, Frederick, Arthur, Walter and Bella - and 2 younger siblings - Robert and Elizabeth. They lived at Barley Green, a hamlet at the foot of Pendle Hill in Lancashire, near Burnley.

By 1901, his father had died and his mother had remarried to a man named Jonathan Hargreaves. The 4 youngest children lived with them. Ernest, now aged 14, was a cotton weaver.

In 1907, he had a son, Harris Hall Hodgson Scott, by Carrie Hodgson from Leeds, whom he married in October 1911. They lived with his parents.

At the 1911 Census, Ernest was a pre-war part-time reservist with the rank of Private and was at the Bhurtpore Military Barracks at Tidworth Camp in Wiltshire.

In 1912, they had a son, John Thomas followed, in 1914, by a daughter, Irene Emily who died aged 6 months. Later in 1914 (after Ernest's death), Carrie gave birth to another daughter, Carrie Anise.

The family lived at 89, Barrowford Road in Wheatley Lane at Fence, a small village near Burnley.

Ernest was a warehouseman at Spring Mills in Wheatley Lane prior to the outbreak of war. He was recalled to duty on 4 August 1914 and embarked for France within a fortnight of the declaration.

A veteran of the Battles of Mons and the Marne, Ernest was severely wounded by shrapnel shattering his arm during the Battle of the Aisne but never made it to an aid station.

His friend, Private Harvey, wrote to Carrie:-

"I'll tell you as much as I can about poor Ernest. On the morning of the terrible 14th September, he and I were together as we always were. Our company were ordered over a ridge to attack the Germans. We had scarcely shown ourselves before their terrible shrapnel started falling amongst us. From then, our numbers started missing, Ernest and I keeping together all the time. Soon, we somehow got separated and I was hit. I crawled behind a haystack as best I could. Whilst lying there, I saw Ernest running back, his arm shattered."

Posted as missing in action on 14 September 1914, Ernest's remains were never identified and he is now commemorated on the La Ferte sous Jouarre Memorial to the Missing, France.

In 1917, Carrie remarried to a discharged soldier, John William Varley.

8559 Private Ernest Scott, 1st Battalion The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment