Edward (Ernie) JERVIS

Edward (Ernie) JERVIS Update Details

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JERVIS, Edward

Service Number:	4166
Enlisted:	Not yet discovered
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	1st Infantry Battalion
Born:	Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales, Australia, 1890
Home Town:	Bonville, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Timber Cutter
Died:	Killed in Action, France, 9 April 1917
Cemetery:	No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial France. Also honoured on the Kangaroo Valley and Coffs Harbour War Memorials., Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France
Memorials:	Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Coffs Harbour Roll of Honor, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial

World War 1 Service

11 Mar 1916:	Involvement Private, 4166, 20th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Orsova embarkation_ship_number: A67 public_note: ''
11 Mar 1916:	Embarked Private, 4166, 20th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Orsova, Sydney
9 Apr 1917:	Involvement Private, 4166, 1st Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 4166 awm_unit: 1 Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1917-04-09

Ernie Jervis

Edward (Ernie) Jervis had been unsuccessful on his first enlistment attempt due to the medical examiner rejecting him on the grounds of bad teeth. He appears to have had the necessary dental work to enable his second enlistment attempt to succeed.

Jervis subsequently enlisted in the A.I.F. at Casula on 23 October 1915 at the age of 25. Born in Kangaroo Valley he was working at Bonville in the Northern Rivers district of NSW as a timber cutter prior to the war. Edward was the beloved son of James and Mary Ellen (nee Bailey) Jervis, of “Rose Bank” Kangaroo Valley.

The day was wet and cold when he embarked from the Sydney docks on the HMAT Orsova on 11 March 1916. Originally in the 20th Battalion Edward was then re-assigned in the field at St Sauveur as one of 14 reinforcements to the 1st Battalion on 25 November 1916.
The 1st Battalion had been savaged in the abortive attack at Flers 3 weeks before.

Thanks to his previous occupation as a timber cutter he was seconded during January to work with the Sussex Army Troops Coy at Vivier Mill near Rouen. He rejoined the 1st on 2 March at Eaucourt as they buried their recently discovered dead from the Flers attack.

Tragically his persistence to enlist was to cost him his life as Jervis was killed on Easter Monday 9 April 1917 at Bullecourt in France. He was struck by shellfire at a place called the Sunken Road. Pte. James Carson was later to inform the Red Cross:
“We were advancing to take the village of Doignes which is near Bullecourt. Jervis was alongside me when the nose cap and part of the casing of a shell killed him at once.”

Lt. B.V. Col Stacy was to record in the “Report on Operation” that the 1st Battalion was successful in taking the village of Demicourt. He had ordered B Company at 0730hrs to “move forward to the Sunken Road ... and be in support.”
11 Officers and men were killed in this operation, Jervis amongst them.

Despite the B103 Form of his National Archives papers indicating he was:
“…buried in the vicinity of Hermies”, Edward Jervis has no known grave and his name appears on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial in France. At home he is honoured on both the Kangaroo Valley and Coffs Harbour War Memorials.

Edward’s father James signed for his memorial plague, known as a “Dead Man’s Penny” in December 1921 and for his service medals in early 1923.

Virtual
War Memorial
Australia