View month four of Stacey's search
The flooding we experienced in North Lincolnshire during the summer of 2007 made me think a little about the effect adverse conditions can have on us. The smell in the air of sewage in Barrow Upon Humber was overwhelming when I visited the area shortly after the flooding. And across North Lincolnshire the sloppy mud, waterlogged gardens and homes and images of sandbags as the last line of defence I’m sure will remain with us all for quite some time.
Ironically it’s similar images like these that in days gone by I’m sure also remained trapped in many people’s minds – but as memories of war. The sodden muddy trenches, the smell of decaying fallen soldiers and the lines of sandbags are many distinctive images of war. And this month I’ve sadly discovered a family ancestor who died fighting for his country during the First World War.
Aged just twenty, Ernest Hornsby died on 13 October 1915. Ernest was the son of Robinson and Jessie Hornsby who lived on Sheffield Street in Crosby. In relation to my search and going back to the original brothers, Ernest was descended from George Hornsby (my side of the family is descended from George’s younger brother James, who is the famous Crosby poet and rat catcher).
Carol Longbone the council’s local studies librarian said:
"I’ve yet to really meet someone researching their family tree who hasn’t lost a family member due to the First or Second World Wars. It’s hard to imagine that millions of young men died – in some cases literally wiping out generations of families."
Carol showed me how to access the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. The website is free for people to use and lets you search through archives and find details about people who were casualties of war. By keying in a few basic details about Ernest I was able to see a record explaining what happened to him. It said he was a Private serving in the Lincolnshire Regiment of the 1st/5th Battalion. It went on to say that Ernest was one of over 20,000 identified casualties listed on the Loos memorial in France. The information then gave a detailed historical account of the Loos memorial. It explained that ‘the memorial forms the side and back of the Dud Corner Cemetery and commemorates over 20,000 officers and men who have no known grave who fell in the area from the River Lys to the old southern boundary of the First Army, east and west of Grenay.’
Carol and I then located a library book called The History of the Lincolnshire Regiment 1914-1918. The book is a compilation of war diaries, despatches, officer’s notes and other sources and is edited by Major-General C R Simpson.
On page 124 through to 129 the book actually describes a push involving the 1st/5th Lincolnshire Regiment on the afternoon of 13 October 1915. Ernest Hornsby along with the rest of his regiment was sent to take part in an attack to capture the Hohenzollern Redoubt and Fosse number eight. The transcript described how at 1.50pm, under the cover of smoke and gas the 1st/5th Lincolnshire Regiment formed the first line of the attack – running through no-man’s land and in to battle. The diary from the battalion described what happened that day:
"Redoubt was taken, but at heavy cost. Incessant bombing, machine gun and rifle-fire all evening, also shelling. Gas and smoke was used to cover the advance but apparently with little damage to the enemy."
It then concluded by saying that out of 23 officers and 850 men, only one officer and 110 men returned – the rest were simply mown down by violent machine gun and rifle-fire. Ernest was one of those men who didn’t return that day.
I’m beginning to discover that researching your family history not only enables you to trace back into your roots but also to learn a fresh – and personal –perspective on historical events too. North Lincolnshire Central Library has loads of books and resources on the First World War that I’d never before considered looking at. But now, because I’ve discovered an ancestor went to war, I feel I should know more. I suspect many people who trace their family trees feel this way about things they discover too.
To find out what happened next go to month six of our family history case study.