3888 Trooper Ernest Chacksfield, Household Battalion

The equivalent strength of nearly two infantry battalions died on this day - 12th October - in 1917: 1819 officers and men. In one day. The vast majority lost their lives in the muck and mud around Ypres during what would become known as the Third Battle of Ypres or simply, Passchendaele. Ernest Chacksfield was one of these men.

388 Trooper Chacksfield of the Household Battalion had formerly served with the 1st Lifeguards (number 4157). This latter number suggests that he joined the Lifeguards in late November or early December 1915 and then transferred to the Household Battalion when it was formed in September 1916. He almost certainly joined that battalion on the 1st September, along with other Lifeguards and Horse Guards transferees. His medal index card only notes entitlement to the British War and Victory Medals and so we know that Ernest did not go overseas until 1916 at the earliest.

Soldiers died in the Great war notes that he was born in Tenterden (Kent) and enlisted there. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records that he was 20 years old at the time of his death and was the son of Walter Edgerton Chacksfield of Folly Hill, Cranbrook, Kent, and the late Mary Chacksfield.

Like so many killed during Third Ypres, Ernest Chacksfield has no known grave and is therefore commemorated by name on the vast Tyne Cot Memorial.

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