Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Ernest James Hammersley was a young Australian man that lived in Bardoe, a town in Western Australia, however, he was born in Hobart, Tasmania. Ernest was a woodcutter and his father was his next of kin. He wasn’t married and thus had no children and his religion was Roman Catholic. Ernest James Hammersley had fair (light) hair, grey eyes, weighed 75kg, was 172cm tall and had a scar on his right foot presumably from a woodcutting accident. On the 11th of November 1916, Ernest’s enlistment form was accepted, and he joined the army as a private in the 93rd Training Depot at the age of 23.

He embarked the A.35 “Berrima” at Fremantle, WA on the 23rd of December 1916 and disembarked at a town in England named Devonport on the 16th of February 1917. Once he arrived, Ernest was put in the Pioneers Training Battalion as a private. In the Pioneers Training Battalion, Ernest trained at multiple locations in England with his Battalion at locations such as Larkhill and Fovant.

On the 1st of April 1917, Ernest James Hammersley was admitted to Parkhouse Hospital from his training in Fovant with the mumps. Mumps was a common viral disease and its symptoms include fever, headaches, malaise, muscle pain, and loss of appetite. Mumps was very common in World War One and thus was the leading cause of missed days of duty with over 230,000 cases of it reported and it was a major issue for soldiers fighting in WWI before a vaccine was discovered. However, Ernest was able to recover quickly and re-joined his training Battalion at the training depot on the 14th of April 1917, spending only around 2 weeks in the hospital.

At the Depot in Fovant, Ernest James Hammersley spent 3 more months training with the Pioneers Training Battalion before finally being transferred to the 3rd Training Battalion which was part of the 10th Infantry Battalion on the 14th of July 1917. After training for approximately 4 more months, Ernest James Hammersley marched into Sutton Veny, another town in England, with his 3rd Training Battalion on the 7th of November 1917. After spending approximately 3 more months training in Sutton Veny, Ernest James Hammersley was sick to Sutton Veny Hospital on the 21st of February 1918. The reason for admission was not yet determined however Ernest was able to recover quickly and was discharged back to depot in a week.

The German Spring Offensive was Germany’s last attempt to defeat the British and French armies on the Western Front and therefore gain total victory and control over the area. It consisted of several attacks and military manoeuvres which took place from March to July in 1918. Their failure in the attack by summer of 1918 left them weak and demoralized and the German army was eventually defeated by counterattacks made by the allies. This was one of the most important victories by the allies and was the only major conflict that Ernest James Hammersley fought in.

On the 1st of March 1918, Ernest James Hammersley marched into Southampton with his training Battalion and after training there for a week and a half, on the 12th of March, Ernest and his Battalion was transferred overseas to a commune in France called Le Havre. Once they arrived. Ernest’s training Battalion marched to unit and Ernest was moved to the 10th Infantry Battalion. During his time serving in the 10th Battalion, Ernest took part in the German Spring Offensive and his Battalion was stationed in Hollebeke, a village in Belgium. After being stationed there, the 10th Infantry Battalion was moved to Caestre, a village in France, to join the 3rd army on the 4th of April. Next day on the 5th, the Battalion boarded a train and headed for another French town called Amiens and, on the 6th, combat began in the village at around 9pm. The next few days, the Battalion was stationed in multiple locations around Amiens before ending up on the 19th in Hazebrouck, another commune in France to defend the area. From then until the end of the month, Ernest and the 10th Infantry Battalion stayed in the same area defending the region. Ernest was wounded on either the 24th or 27th April 1918 and he went missing. There is a declaration in his service record that he was seen wounded but it was not considered to be severe. However, he was not seen again so he either died from this wound or was the victim of another gunshot or shrapnel attack. He was eventually declared as Killed in Action on the 1st February 1919. 

On the 7th of May 1923, the receipt for victory medal that was presented to Ernest’s next of kin (his father), was claimed. After Ernest’s death, he was commemorated in Villers-Bretonneux, a village 15km east of Amiens, one of the locations in which Ernest served. At the place of commemoration, there are three walls constructed from Portland stone and on which are carved the names of 10,885 Australians, one of them being Ernest, who were killed in France with no known grave.

Bibliography

National Archives of Australia. (1914). HAMMERSLEY Ernest James : Service Number - 3453 : Place of Birth - Hobart TAS : Place of Enlistment - Blackboy Hill WA : Next of Kin - (Father) HAMMERSLEY Ernest James. [online] Available at: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=4256010 [Accessed 6 Apr. 2022].

Adfa.edu.au. (2016). Details. [online] Available at: https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=124655 [Accessed 6 Apr. 2022].

encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net. (n.d.). German Spring Offensives 1918 | International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1). [online] Available at: https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/german_spring_offensives_1918#:~:text=The%20Spring%20Offensives%20of%201918.

www.awm.gov.au. (n.d.). AWM4 23/27/30 - April 1918. [online] Available at: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1341863 [Accessed 6 Apr. 2022].

‌

Wikipedia Contributors (2019). MUMPS. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUMPS.

‌