E.+WHITMORE

Whitmore, Ernest Albert, Lance Corporal, 414, 38th Battalion, Australian Infantry Killed in action 12th January 1917 Buried in Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, Armentieres, IV, C, 42

Additional information from Service record, National Archives of Australia: Born Winshill, Staffordshire, England, he enlisted in Melbourne, Victoria, on the 29th February 1916. He stated that he was employed as a labourer, and that his next of kin were his parents, Robert and Ester Whitmore, of 16, Mount Street, Derby, England. He was aged 27 years and 6 months old, was 5 foot 3.5” in height, 109 pounds in weight, had a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair, and he belonged to the Church of England. He embarked on the HMAT Runic from Melbourne, Victoria, on the 20th June 1916, arriving in Plymouth, Devon, on the 10th August. Whilst training in England he was admitted to hospital from the 5th to the 9th September, suffering from a chill. He arrived in France on the 22nd November 1916, and was killed in action on the 12th January the following year. Personal effects returned to his mother after his death included an identity disc, letters, a photo, a notebook, a Testament, a metal wrist watch and strap, a pair of field glasses, a dictionary, a rule, a pair of nail clippers, a knife, a pencil, a rubber, two handkerchiefs, a wallet and four coins.