Ambrose Victor Knight

A Private with 7th Bn., Ambrose died on 14th of May 1917 at the age of 19.  

Ambrose was born at Blundeston in 1897, a son of Benjamin and Clara Knight. In 1901 his family lived at The Street, Blundeston, Lowestoft. By 1911 Ambrose's father had died and his family still lived at The Street, Blundeston, and Ambrose worked as a house boy-domestic. 

Ambrose enlisted in the Army at Lowestoft. He served with the Suffolk Regiment, initially with the 6th (Cyclist) Battalion, number 1861, and later he was posted to France and joined the 7th Battalion, service number 43045.  

We know that Ambrose was wounded, receiving a gunshot wound and sustaining a fractured left thigh. The War Diary for the 7th Battalion does not mention him by name, nor is there any record that states exactly where he was when he was wounded. 

The War Diary for the 7th Battalion Suffolk Regiment in incomplete, and the pages for May 1917 are missing. However, Lieutenant-Colonel Murphy's 'The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914-1927' (pages 233-234) explains that after the Battle of Arras, and their attack on 28 April 1917, the 7th Battalion went into reserve at Railway Triangle and Orange Lane until the middle of May 1917. We may infer, therefore, that because the 7th were in reserve for the whole period from 28 April until the middle of May 1917, effectively past the date that Ambrose died, that it is most likely that he was wounded at Arras on 28 April 1917.

On 28 April the Battalion attacked the lines in front of Pelves. At 4.45 a.m. the Battalion left Sunken Road, just behind the front line, in artillery formation. They faced a heavy barrage and machine-gun fire and their attack failed and they were unable to advance beyond Bayonet Trench and Rifle Trench. By 1 a.m. on the 29th the Battalion had been reduced to 190 men in fighting condition. In the attack four officers had been killed, or died of wounds, and four officers wounded. Ninety other ranks were killed and an untold number, in the hundreds, wounded or missing. 

Ambrose died of his wounds at No 4 General Hospital, France.