Ernest Albert Jay

A Staff Sergeant with 17th Field Ambulance, Ernest died on 18th of September 1918 aged 37. 

Ernest was born at Burgh Castle in 1880, a son of Benjamin and Evelyn Jay. In 1881 his family lived at Burgh Castle. By 1891 they were living at 113 London Road, with Ernest’s maternal grandmother Sarah Salmon. Ernest’s father died in 1895. In 1901 his mother, and sisters, lived at 23 Havelock Road, Great Yarmouth, and later his mother lived at 105 Nelson Road Central, Great Yarmouth. In 1911 his brother, Benjamin, lived at 3 Suffolk Road, Lowestoft. 

It appears that in 1901 Ernest, using his middle name as his first name, was serving with the 3rd Militia Battalion Norfolk Regiment at Colchester. In 1903/4 he enlisted in the Bedfordshire Regiment, service number 7919. Ernest has not been categorically traced in the 1911 Census, but he may have been living in Norwich. 

It is probable that Ernest was mobilised from the Army Reserve when the First World War began, which suggests that he may have been transferred to the Royal Army Medical Corps, service number 2672, before he joined the Reserve. Ernest arrived in France on 27 August 1914 and served with 4 Stationary Hospital. By September 1918 he had been promoted to Staff Sergeant and was serving with 17 Field Ambulance. 

On 17 September 1918 17 Field Ambulance moved to Villeveque. It seems that Ernest was at the Advanced Dressing Station when it was shelled. Three officers and five men, including Ernest, were killed.