Royal Engineers

Ernest Wood’s military service appears to have lasted a matter of weeks.

Ernest Mark Wood was born at Hullavington, near Cirencester in 1899. His parents were Henry and Mary Elizabeth Wood (née Payne). The couple had fourteen children, of whom thirteen were living by the time of the 1911 Census.

Mary died in the summer of 1914, just prior to the outbreak of the Great War.

Henry Wood was a shepherd and at the time of the 1901 Census he and his family lived at Horsley, near Nailsworth, Gloucestershire.

By the time of the 1911 Census they had moved to Rodmarton, a village between Tetbury and Cirencester. The census notes that Ernest (in that of 1901 he was shown as ‘Mark’) was labourer on a farm.

The Military Service Act of January 1916 set out to conscript all men between ages of 18 and 41.

Single men and childless widowers had the option to enlist immediately or attest for military service under ‘Lord Derby’s Scheme’ and await call up. Automatic conscription would come into effect on 2 March 1916: the minimum age to be sent overseas was 19.

Unfortunately, no Army Service Record has survived for Ernest, so it is not known if and when he attested and similarly when he was called up.

Employers could appeal on behalf of men considered to be essential for the running of their business and a system of tribunals was established across the country. The North Wiltshire Herald of 19 January 1917 reported the proceedings of the Cirencester Rural Tribunal.

Thomas Henry Clark, of Manor Farm, Culkerton, put forward the names of five of his workers to have their mobilisation deferred or even exempted. One of these was Ernest Wood, age 19, an under-shepherd. The tribunal refused to exempt him from military service but ruled that he ‘was not to be called up unless a substitute is provided’.

The ruling (as reported) appears ambiguous but possibly what it meant was that if someone else was available to do Ernest’s job, then he would be mobilised.

It appears that the farmer did find someone and within six weeks Ernest was conscripted into the Royal Engineers as a Driver, undertaking his basic Army training at Aldershot.

Driver Ernest Mark Wood died in the Connaught Military Hospital, Aldershot on 4 March 1917, aged 19.

In the absence of a death certificate, the cause of death is not known. A recently released Pension Record Card simply states that he ‘died’.

He was buried in the churchyard of St Peter’s, Rodmarton, on 8 March 1917. A standard Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone marks his grave. He is commemorated on the Rodmarton Parish War Memorial.

Research by Graham Adams 11 December 2020