3/5442 Pte Ernest Holloway, 6th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry

3/5442 Pte Ernest Holloway of the 6th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI), died of wounds on 1st August 1915. According to Soldiers Died in The Great War, he was one of 130 Other Ranks to die on this day and on of five men from the 6th DCLI, four of whom died of wounds.

Ernest was a Londoner, born in Bermondsey and living in Lewisham when he enlisted. His number indicates that he originally joined the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion in August 1914 and he must have been subsequently posted to the 6th (Service) Battalion. His medal index card also notes S Res [Special Reserve].

Ernest arrived in France on 4th December 1914. He was presumably sent as part of a draft to the 1st Battalion, which was the only DCLI battalion on the Western Front at that time. He was then possibly wounded and then posted to the 6th Battalion which didn't arrive in France until 22nd May 1915. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission does note yield additional information about Ernest, but I think it's a good bet that he was probably a time-expired soldier when he joined the Special Reserve, and was then shipped out to France pretty soon to make up losses sustained by the 1st Battalion.

Ernest was probably fatally wounded on 31st July 1915. I don't have the war diary for the 6th DCLI to hand but 30 men from the battalion died on this day, one dying of wounds, the remainder killed in action. A quick look at the casualties for this day shows that Ernest was by no means a lonely Londoner in a battalion full of Cornishmen. Seven men had come from the west country but the majority of the remainder were also Londoners, with a couple of men from Birmingham and one from Lancashire making up the total. Three of the thirty men were special reservists and one of the Birmingham men was a regular soldier who had originally joined the DCLI in 1906 and must have been on the reserve when war was declared.

Ernest is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, grave reference I.D.9A.

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

Sources:

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