Ernest Dudley Risebrook

Born: 13 November 1898

Died: 27 July 1917

Rank and Regiment: Private 201229 in the 2nd and 4th Battalions of the Norfolk Regiment

Resting Place: St. George’s, Hardingham, United Kingdom

Memorials: St. George’s, Hardingham, United Kingdom and; the Great Eastern Railway Company War Memorial at Liverpool Street Station, London.

He was born in Hingham on 13 November 1898, the son of Thomas William Risebrook and Charlotte Risebrook.

In the 1891 Census the Risebrooks were recorded as living at Market Street, Hingham; by 1901 they had moved to High Common, Hardingham, and had four children living with them; Temple, a son aged 8, Victor 3, Ernest 2, all born in Hingham, and Lillie, aged 1, born in Hardingham.

The 1911 Census found the family still living in Hardingham, and as well as Victor, Ernest and Lillie they had a little daughter Sybil. We may also note that the Risebrooks had four children then living and had had two children die. There is a record of Russell Thomas Risebrook who was born on 22 February 1901 and baptised on 9 March 1901 at Hardingham, but who died the following day and is buried in Hardingham churchyard. Temple Frederick Risebrook was baptised at Hardingham on 7 October 1900, though his birth is registered in 1892; the family made a day of it and Lily Maud, Victor Ralph and Ernest Dudley were all christened on the same day. Temple’s death is recorded in the first quarter of 1911.

Other records suggest that if they survived infancy and avoided the Great War, the Risebrooks were of long-lived stock. Victor is recorded as dying in Norwich in 1966, Sybil dying there in 1986. Ernest’s mother Charlotte, on the other hand, died early in 1912.

Ernest is recorded as being admitted to Hardingham Church of England School on 23 April 1903 (exactly one month before Wilfred Fox, q.v.). He was a conscientious pupil, receiving a bronze medal in the summer of 1906 for “perfect attendance coupled with good conduct”. He left school on 14 November 1912 to become an agricultural labourer. He later worked on the Great Eastern Railway and according to railway records was a porter.

He enlisted in the Norfolk Regiment in November 1915, aged 17.

Part of his military records survive from his demobilisation on 23 May 1917. He appears to have served abroad from September to December 1916. He stood 5 feet 7 inches tall and had fair hair and blue eyes. He was intending to go into farm work and to live at Beech Farm, Hardingham. But he was “no longer physically fit for War service”’; as a medical board on 2 May 1917 reported, he was suffering from advanced pulmonary tuberculosis:

“Signs of active tuberculosis at the apexes of both lungs, and also at the base of L[eft] lung. Cough is marked. There is a good deal of wasting. Pulse rate is somewhat increased… Result of ordinary military service and infection resulting from lowered resistance”

He died at home on 27 July 1917, and was buried at Hardingham on 3 August 1917.

He is commemorated on the Great Eastern Railway Company War Memorial at Liverpool Street Station, London.