Ernest Walter Graves

Born: 4 August 1879

Died: 19 March 1918

Rank and Regiment: Private 119547 in the 61st Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)

Resting Place: Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, Armentieres, Department du Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France - Plot VII C 23

Memorials: St. Mary’s, Cranworth, United Kingdom

Ernest was born in Southborough on 4 August 1879 to Benjamin and Sarah Graves. He was baptised later that year in Cranworth on 20th November.

The family lived in Southborough and Benjamin worked as an agricultural labourer while Sarah maintained the home. Ernest was part of a large family and the middle of nine siblings. In 1881, these siblings included John (a bricklayer), Ben (an agricultural labourer), Freddie and Mary who both attended the local school, and finally Albert and Ernest who were only 3 and 1 at the time.

10 years later, 11-year-old Ernest attended school with his elder brother, Albert. Whilst his elder siblings had moved on, 3 younger children had appeared including Charles, Mabel and Jerold.

On 9 January 1901, Ernest married Emily Moore from Poplar (b. 22 October 1878) in St Marylebone church in Westminster. On the 1911 census, the new family were living in Kent where Ernest worked as a carman with Mineral Waters. The couple also had 2 children including a daughter, Frances (b. 1 March 1902), and a son, Percy (b. 25 October 1903). Shortly after the Census, their 3 child, a son called George was born on 18 June 1912.

As the war came, he enlisted in Gravesend as a Private in the 6th Battalion of The Buffs (East Kent) Regiment. Whilst we do not know his exact movements, we know that he was killed in action on 19 March 1918 in France. His effects of £3 were left to Emily and he was buried at the Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery in France.

It appears that Emily never remarried. She lived a long life before passing away in Bromley in 1956 at 78. Ernest’s daughter, Frances, married in January 1929 in Gravesend to Clement G Roach. According to the 1939 census, she was living in Falmouth with her husband, mother and children. However, she returned to Gravesend and remained there until her death on 29th October 1987.

Ernest’s sons both appear to have survived to old ages despite likely having served in World War Two. Ernest’s elder son, Percy, went on to marry Alma Humphrey in July 1931 in Dartford. In 1939, he worked as a maintenance worker whilst Alma worked a domestic helper. Percy is recorded as passing away on 21 June 1967 in Kent. Meanwhile, George worked as an equipment assistant and married Ethel Chamberlain in April 1939. He died in October 1992 at the age of 80.

Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, France