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Remembering the First World War

19th June 2018 @ 6:06am – by Jo Richards
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Remembering the First World War – Tarvin Men who Served their Country


The Roll of Honour in St Andrew's Church records the names of 165 Tarvin men who served during WW1. Some of these were killed in action; some died later from their wounds; some were missing presumed dead; some died from falling ill or contracting diseases while on active service in the trenches; others died in prisoner of war camps.

tarvin war memorial 2015

The Cenotaph outside the church and the Memorial book in church records those who were killed in action but it is not a definitive list. Some of the war dead may have been remembered on memorials or cenotaphs in other parts of Britain, depending on where they were living at the time of their enlistment.

Some of the men enlisted in Tarvin or Chester and although a number of them joined either the Cheshire Regiment or the Cheshire Yeomanry, many did not.
Samuel Jackson, for example, was born and brought up in Tarvin but was living in Wigan and travelled to Liverpool to enlist in the Cameronians. Other places of enlistment included Northwich, Wrexham, Runcorn, Hyde, Salford, Birkenhead and Altringham.
Some Tarvin men became Grenadier Guards while others joined the Royal Fusiliers, Artillery Regiments, Hussars, Engineers or Services Corps. A small number joined the Air Force but only two are recorded as becoming sailors.

Albert Ernest Bull

One of five children, Ernest was born in Tarvin in 1883. His father, John was a skilled house painter and like his two brothers before him, Ernest, on leaving school was apprenticed into the same trade. He married a local girl from Oscroft, Mary Elizabeth Crank and they set up home at Tarvin Sands. In 1916 Ernest joined the newly formed 1st Batallion Tank Corps as a gunner in A Company. At the time of enlisting, he had a four year old son, John and a second son, William was born in 1917.

On August 10th 1918, Ernest sustained serious wounds on the first day of the Allied Offensive which led to the ending of the war. He received gunshot wounds to his neck, right knee and right arm. He must have left or been dragged from his tank to be so severely wounded from gunfire so we can only presume that his tank had been badly damaged in the battle. He was taken prisoner by the Germans on the same day and spent the next four months as a p.o.w.
On December 11th 1918 he was repatriated and given an honourable discharge from the army. Severely disabled as a result of his injuries, he returned to Tarvin where he lingered on for a further I year, I month and 11 days until he died in the Royal Infirmary in Chester on September 24th 1919 from an aneurism caused by the trauma of his wounds.

Ernest is remembered with honour in Tarvin (St Andrew's) Churchyard.

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