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Cpl. Ernest Charles Simmonds MM, DM2/097466 RASC


Ivor Anderson

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Cpl. Ernest Charles Simmonds MM, DM2/097466 RASC

Went to France 29 Sept. 1915 with 14th Div. Ambulance Convoy, RASC. Served as a motorcycle dispatch rider for 18 months. Promoted Cpl. after 6 months.

Listed in the LG 11 Nov 1916 for a retrospective MM award earned with 14th Div Ambulance Convoy, RASC: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29780/supplement/9836

Later died from injuries sustained from being crushed against a wall by a reversing lorry on 9 Feb 1917. Then serving with RASC Mec Transport, att'd 186 Siege Battery Ammunition Column. Buried Maroc Cemetery I.N.3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/523590/ernest-charles-simmonds/

MM index card from TNA - schedule no. 33314:

Simmonds MM card.jpg

Edited by Ivor Anderson
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Thanks Alan! A sad end for a brave man. His MM seems to have been from despatch riding under fire.

He seems to have been engaged in riding to report numbers of wounded awaiting transfer from advance dressing stations/field ambulance posts (14th MAC war diary at TNA):

 

14 MAC Oct 1915.png

14 MAC 17 Oct 15.png

Edited by Ivor Anderson
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Born: Q3 1896 (2a 80) Guildford District

Baptised: 3rd June 1896 - St John the Evangelist, Stoke-Next-Guilford (Address: Artillery Terrace)

Parents: Charles Henry Simmonds (Polisher) & Emily

 

1901 – 19 Artillery Terrace, Stoke-next-Guilford – father ‘furniture decorater

1911 – 20 Artillery Terrace, Stoke-next-Guilford – father ‘gilder & polisher’.

Educated Charlotteville School, then scholarship to the Grammar School, In OTC.

Clerk in the Guildford Gas Co., then South Suburban Gas Co.

Chorister in St. Saviour’s Church Choir.

 

1915 – June – enlisted RASC – trained as Driver Mechanic

1915 – 29 Sept. - Arrived in France with 14th MAC – promoted Corporal 6 months later.

Was a dispatch rider with them for 18 months – until early 1917.

 

MM listed in LG 11 Oct 1916 – for despatch riding round Field Ambulance stations c.Oct 1915.

Schedule no. on MM index card 33314

 

Died: 9th Feb 1917, skull crushed against a wall in accident while directing a lorry

Buried: Maroc Cemetery Plot I. Row N. Grave 13

 

1917 – 19 Feb. report on his service & death in the Surrey Advertiser.

1920 – parents still living at 20 Artillery Terrace – pension card - TNA:

 

Simmonds PC1.png

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1911 – 20 Artillery Terrace, Stoke-next-Guilford – father ‘gilder & polisher’. Ancestry image:

Screen Shot 2020-06-09 at 22.11.02.png

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13 hours ago, charlie962 said:

Featured in The Old Guildfordian, 2010

Thanks Charlie, Must try to follow that up.  Ivor

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  • 4 weeks later...

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