Lives of the First World War

September 1914 - 1st December 1915

Ernie was born on 6th February 1898 at Langford in the County of Berkshire, the ninth child and third son of Harry and Polly (Hacker) Fitchett. His father was a farm labourer who moved around Berkshire, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire with his work, and Ernie's ten siblings were born around these counties. At the English 1911 census Ernie is shown as a 13 year old farm labourer, living at Coleshill in Berkshire with his parents and four of his siblings. One of his older sisters moved away to Brecon in South Wales and Ernie must have been on holiday with her and her family in 1914 as he enlisted in the South Wales Borderers in August or September 1914 at Brecon. No enlistment papers have survived but the SWB Museum records confirm this. Ernie was, of course, under age at this time. His Medal Index Card indicates that he was sent to France on 26th January 1915, but this is actually when he was sent back to the front, as we have a letter from him to his sister, Millicent, or Cissie as she was known, from hospital in Edinburgh where he was recovering from wounds, Cissie received this letter on 7th December 1914. He then sent a postcard to Cissie on 12th February 1915 to say that he was back at the front but not yet at the 'firing line' as he described it. We have several other letters, some just asking for 'fags' (cigarettes) but others describing what he and his mates had gone through. He was taken into the 2nd Stationary Hospital on 24th November 1915 with a bad gun shot wound to his left thigh and we have several letters to his sister from the Army Nursing Sister and the Chaplain, as Ernie develops gangrene, has his leg amputated but to no avail and he dies on 1st December. He was buried at Abbeyville Cemetery. The Medal Index Card shows Ernie's entitlement to the 1915 Star, the British and the Victory Medals, but his December 1914 letter indicates that he may have been entitled to the 1914-15 Star. His Medals are believed to have been split among the family, but we do have his 'Death Penny' and Cap Badge. He was initially commemorated on the War Memorial at Coleshill, but as the family had moved away when this was raised, Ernie is noted as having served with the Royal Field Artillery, but subsequent to our research, he is now properly commemorated there, showing that he gave his life in the South Wales Borderers Regiment.

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