PEARSON, Ernest Victor
| Service Number: | 3857 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 10th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Oakbank, South Australia, 1887 |
| Home Town: | Balhannah, Adelaide Hills, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 19 August 1916 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Adelaide National War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Balhannah ANZAC Roll, Balhannah Soldiers' Memorial Honor Roll, Oakbank Old Scholars Roll of Honor, Port Broughton War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France), Woodside District of Onkaparinga Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 2 Dec 1915: | Involvement Private, 3857, 10th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: RMS Malwa embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Dec 1915: | Embarked Private, 3857, 10th Infantry Battalion, RMS Malwa, Adelaide |
Ernest Victor Jubilee Pearson
Name: Ernest Victor Jubilee Pearson
Service Number: 3857
Place of Birth: Oakbank
Date of Birth: 26 May 1887
Place of Enlistment: Adelaide
Date of Enlistment: 11 August 1915
Age at Enlistment: 28 years 2 months
Next of Kin: Wife, Mrs. A. E. Pearson
Occupation: Labourer
Religion: Church of England
Rank: Private
Ernest joined the 10th Battalion and embarked from Adelaide on board RMS Malwa on 2 December 1915 and was sent to France early in 1916. He was hospitalised with mumps at Etaples on 29 April and was able to rejoin his unit on 24 May. Ernest was reported missing in action on 23 August but was actually killed in action on 19 August at Mouquet Farm. He has no known grave. His wife Annie and her children Ronald and Thelma were granted a pension from 23 October. When Annie died on 25 June 1919 her children were left in the care of Mrs. A.E. Whitting, Annie’s sister. Ernest’s personal effects comprising a handkerchief and a brush had been sent to Annie in 1917. Mrs. Whitting received Private Ernest Pearson’s Victory Medal, Memorial Plaque and Memorial Scroll between November 1921 and February 1923. Ernest Pearson is listed on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.
Submitted 23 October 2023 by christopher collins
Biography contributed by tony griffin
Ernest Pearson, who had a farm at Clements Gap, was the son of George and Sarah Anne (nee Savage) Pearson. He was born at Oakbank in 1887. In 1913 he married Annie Estella. Ernest and Annie had two children. Daughter, Thelma Alice , was born in 1913 and son, Ronald Ernest John, was born in 1914.
A labourer, Ernest was 28 years old when he enlisted in Adelaide on 11 August 1915.
Appointed to 12th Reinforcements 10 Battalion he embarked from Adelaide aboard embarked RMS “Malwa” on 2 December 1915. After training in Egypt he proceeded to join the British Expeditionary Force in France. The unit embarked from Alexandria on 19 March 1916 and disembarked in Marseilles on 4 April. On 1 May Ernest was admitted to hospital with the mumps. After recovering in an isolation hospital he rejoined the battalion on the 24 May. It was during the battle of Pozieres that 321 Pte. E. L. Mogford of D Coy witnessed Ernest “buried by a shell at Moquet Farm”. A Court of Enquiry determined that Ernest was killed between 19 and 23 August 1916. Ernest has no known grave.
Ernest’s widow, Annie Estella, died on 25 June 1919 and the two orphaned children were placed in the care of Annie’s sister, Mrs. Alice E. Whiting of Clements Gap.
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