Ernest Herbert Sharp Gomersall, 1/5th Bn, West Yorks

New Year's Day. Traditionally a time for hope and optimism and the wish that the new year is going to be better than the last. For Ernest Gomersall's family however, 1916 could not have got off to a worse start. He died of wounds in a Boulogne hospital on the 1st January and was buried in the town's Eastern Cemetery.

Ernest was one of 140 soldiers to die on New Year's Day 1916. 127 soldiers had died on 1st January 1915; 277 would die on 1st January 1917 and 148 would die on New Year's Day 1918.

Ernest, born in Harrogate, was 26 years old when he died, the son of the late Mr and Mrs Sharp (according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission). His army number indicates that he joined the 1/5th West Yorks in August or September 1914, and he arrived in France on the 15th April 1915. His medal index card at the National Archives incorrectly spells his name as GOMORSALL.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in The Great War