Eric Ivan Cole

Born: 1896

Died: 26 September 1916

Rank and Regiment: Private 43481 in the 1st Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment (formerly Private 2323 of the 2nd/6th Battalion in the Norfolk Regiment)

Resting Place: Flatiron Copse Cemetery in Mametz, Department de la Somme, Picardie, France - Plot I F 10.

Memorials: St Botolph’s Churchyard, Barford, United Kingdom

Eric was born in 1896 in Marlingford. He was the son of Londoner Frederic Vincent Cole and Nina Eliza Cole (nee Kettle) and the younger brother of Vincent George Cole who was born on 19th September 1892.

He appears from time to time in the Log Book of Marlingford School being absent from school ill, most seriously in 1905 with whooping cough. He is also recorded in 1906 as evidently being a fairly keen pupil – “Ivy Tomlinson, Eric Cole and Ida Warnes did a little experiment in the evening at home very nicely, and brought the result to school this morning”. In February 1907, we read “The doctor has forbidden Eric Cole to attend school because his brother is home from Norwich higher grade school with measles. He has not been absent or late once during the present school year which will end on February 28th”. A few days later it is laconically noted that “Eric Cole is ill – with measles,” and was absent from school for several weeks.

The family left Marlingford in 1907 and in the 1911 Census we find them in Barford. Eric, being 14 years old, is described as an errand boy; he may possibly have been working with his father, who was a grocer and provision dealer. Previously, in the 1901 Census, Frederick is described as a travelling grocer and in a 1912 Directory as a hawker.

Eric enlisted as a Private in the 2nd/6th (Cyclist) Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment, and later joined the 1st Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment. On 25th September 1916, the battalion was part of a large allied force at the Battle of Morval at the Somme. Sadly, on 26th September Eric died of wounds that were likely sustained in this assault. He was 20 years old. He is buried in the Flatiron Copse Cemetery in France. His personal effects worth £2. 4s. and 10d. were left to his mother, Nina. The inscription on his grave reads simply:

GREATLY MISSED.

Eric’s brother Vincent survived the war. He enlisted on 13th March 1917 as a civilian into the Royal Flying Corps (later the Royal Air Force). After the war, he met and married Annie Ruth Hunt in 1928. He then became an elementary school teacher in Aylsham, Norfolk.

Flatiron Copse Cemetery, France