#Ashford #Buckland #Chilham #Death #Dover #England #Faversham#France #Kent #KIA #Luddenham #Military #WWI
Ernest Walter ABBOTT was the youngest of nine children born to Henry ABBOTT (1844 – 1908), an Agricultural Labourer, and Sarah ANDREWS (1857 – 1943).
Henry was born in Buckland, part of Dover, Kent, England but seems to have headed towards Faversham by the time of his marriage.
Sarah was born in Elmsted (east of Ashford) and has moved to the Chilham area which is just a few miles north towards Canterbury. They married on Christmas Day 1875. Henry was in his 30s but Sarah only just 18.
Ernest had five sisters – Ellen Mary ABBOTT (1876 – 1921), Emma ABBOTT (1878 – 1943), Ada Lilly ABBOTT (1881 – 1940), Alice Elizabeth ABBOTT (1884 – 1950) and Frances ABBOTT (1888 – 1916). All five married and I know that at least three had offspring and one seems to have moved to Canada.
He also had three brothers – John Henry ABBOTT (1886 – 1916), Frederick George ABBOTT (1891 – 1966) and William Charles ABBOTT (1894 – 1973). At least two of them married but not sure if any had children. Most of the family appears to have stayed around Kent.
In the 1881 Census Ernest’s parents and the eldest two girls are living in Old Wives Lees which is a hamlet in the parish of Chilham. They seem to be around the same place (detail given as Chilham Lees) for the 1891 Census but now with six children listed.
Ernest’s birth was registered Q4 1896 in East Ashford District. According to other records he was likely born on 06 Sep 1896 but not sure if he was baptised as have not found this evidence.
In the 1901 Census the family are still in Chilham with the youngest five children. Location given as Park House next to Woods Hill. Age shown as four and states born in Chilham.
Sadly, in 1908, Ernest’s father passes away in his early 60s leaving Sarah a widow. Seemingly unusual is that by the time of 1911 Census and with Ernest, now 14, that all of her children are still alive.
Her eldest son John and Ernest are both living with her at Yellow Cabbage, Luddenham in Faversham. Both the boys are labouring on farms with Ernest’s role given as a field worker.
Regarding Ernest’s military career and much more detail of his family’s life I am just going to link to the details given by the Lynsted with Kingsdown Society 1 and Commonwealth War Graves Commission [CWGC] 2.
Salient points though were his Service number L/10279 and he was part of the 6th Battalion of The Buffs (East Kent Regiment). He died on 01 May 1917 and is buried or commemorated at Duisans British Cemetery, Etrun, France.
Also, there were details about him noted on the Kent Fallen project 3 which unfortunately does not appear to exist anymore but has been somewhat captured by the Internet Archive.
I had taken these excerpts from the following weblinks when originally available in September 2019 but no longer functional – http://www.kentfallen.com/PDF%20REPORTS/CHILHAM.pdf and http://www.kentfallen.com/PDF%20REPORTS/LUDDENHAM.pdf
As you see a memorial plaque to him and others lost can be found in St Mary’s Church, Luddenham. Sadly, for the family although all nine survived childhood by the time their mother Sarah passed away at 85 so had five or six (depending on date) of her offspring.
He was a 4C 2R to me.
Footnotes –
Most research undertaken using Ancestry, FreeBMD and Google Maps. Additional resources listed below if utilised.
- Lynsted Society – http://lynsted-society.co.uk/research_ww1_casualties_abbott_e_w.html ↩︎
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission [CWGC]- https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/168501/ernest-walter-abbott/ ↩︎
- Kent Fallen – https://web.archive.org/web/20210411224956/http://kentfallen.com/Kent%20Fallen%20homepage.html ↩︎
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