Have You a Tiger In Your Family?

Rank : 2nd Lieutenant

Army Number : 1530 and 240165

Unit : 5th Bn, 1/5th Bn, 3rd Bn, 11th Bn

Biography :

Educated at Hinckley Grammar School, Ernest Hall enlisted on 20.3.1913 as a Private in 5th Battalion The Leicestershire Regiment. Mobilised in 1914, he entered France in 1/5th Bn on 27.2.1915 and was promoted Corporal 240165 on 15.4.1916. After officer training in England he was commissioned into The Leicestershire Regiment on 31.7.1917, and served with the 11th Bn. Serving in D Company 11th Bn and having been wounded by a gunshot to the chest on 23.10.1917, he died of wounds at 3rd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station near Poperinge on 6.11.1917, aged 23. He is buried at Lijssenthoek Cemetery, Poperinge, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. He is commemorated on a private family memorial in St Peter’s Church, Hinckley.
Some of this, and all that follows comes from the Hinckley & District Museum.

During his period of service, Temporary Second Lieutenant Ernest Hall sent back letters to his family and friends which found their way into Hinckley Grammar School Magazine and St Peter’s Parish Magazine.

Hinckley Grammar School Magazine – Spring Term 1915
“From Private E Hall, 5th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, to his parents, 19th December 1914……
Once more we have been inspected by the King and I have the pleasure of having my own salute answered by him. I got to a level crossing near a small village, which you have got to get over to get to Sawbridgeworth. When I landed there the gates were shut and I had to wait. I had only been there two or three seconds when the King’s car dashed up. It was kept waiting about three minutes and I had good look at him and as he drove off saluted and he answered it. I didn’t half feel big as there was no one else there”

Hinckley Grammar School Magazine – Spring term 1915
Letter of 13th March 1915……”We left camp there on Sunday and had 20 hours riding in first class “modele deluxe”, or otherwise horseboxes. There were 38 men in a box, except ours which was luckily overlooked and only had a dozen in it. We were travelling from 7.00pm Sunday till 4.00pm Monday and during the day sat with the doors open watching the scenery. Some parts are very nice but on the whole it is not such nice country as England and is largely waste ground. My bit of French knowledge has come in quite useful and I am always acting as interpreter for the other fellows. The people here speak Flemish and French and we are about 16 miles off the firing line. The Leicestershire Yeomanry rode through here yesterday and we saw Mr. Dudley Atkins and several Hinckley fellows, who all looked well. We also met a lot of the 2nd Leicesters at our last camp and I knew several of them. We expect to leave here tonight and train nearly up to the trenches. Everyone out here thinks the war will be over this year, as the Germans are getting sick of it. General French and the Prince of Wales pass along the main road here from Headquarters to the firing line and General Joffre’s headquarters have been about two miles from here”

St Peter’s Parish Magazine May 1915
Letter of 10th April "We left the base at 9.30pm and landed at headquarters about 1 o’clock. We relieved the South Welsh and took over the trenches entirely on our own with the 4th Leicesters on our left and the Staffords on our right. The headquarters were at the remains of a large farm and a thousand yards behind the firing line. We were not allowed to have a fire in the daytime or t allow a light to be seen at night as the Germans shelled us on the least suspicion of the farm being used. The telephone wires were already connected to all the trenches and various farms and the Welsh gave us a general idea of the scheme before they left. We had two companies in the first line trenches and two in the reserve and we at once got in touch with them and messages started to come in from each trench, and continued to do so almost all the five days we were there. The value of the phone was proved here, as absolutely everything depends on constant communication. It began to get rather uncomfortable n the night as it rained hard and the being very little of the roof left overhead it came on to us all over the place. We had a spare wire running down into the cellar in case of being shelled and also had dug-outs near in case the place became absolutely untenable. There was very heavy firing on Monday night when the Germans thought we were due to relieve the Welsh. I did night duty on the phone while I was there and slept during the day. On Tuesday the first fellow to be wounded outside our farm was brought in with a bullet through the shoulder and which could be seen in his right arm. A bit later an officer was brought in belonging to the 4th Leicester suffering from wounded toes from a bullet. Tuesday night was a very busy time for us and at 6.30 Wednesday morning the first 5th Leicesters casualty was reported, being a Private Harmer of D Coy who was shot through the head and who died immediately. All reports of casualties came at once to Headquarters, so we knew exactly how things were going. During the morning I climbed up the loft to have a look at an observation post which was fixed in the roof. An enormous amount of corn and tobacco leaves was lying all over the place. The household things were exactly as they were left when the owners fled. Two or three pigeons still flew about and with a couple of cats were all that as left of the livestock of the farm. A dead pig lay in the middle of the farmyard and the rest of the cows etc lay dead on the way to the trenches. In the afternoon the news came through of the death of Private John Goode. It came as a great shock to us as he was the first Hinckley man among us to get killed and was so well known to all of us. He was shot through the jaw and remained unconscious for some time before he died. Snipers were very busy about this time and the bullets kept rattling the tiles of what was left of our roof. A whole company of the 4th Leicesters got lost and had to be guided from our headquarters to their own as it as getting light and this seemed to have somewhat given our position away to the enemy, for it was hardly safe to move outside the door. Our Colonel went out and at once had two shrapnel shells and a shower of bullets after him, which struck one of the barns. On Thursday I went with another fellow across the yard to look in a barn which the Germans destroyed by shrapnel fire earlier in the war and which was burnt to the ground. In it we found the charred remains of three poor fellows who appear to have been killed as they lay there. We found two of their identity discs and they belonged to the 4th East Surreys. The barn contained thousands of rounds of ammunition (which had been exploded by the fire) and the brass buttons, etc, of the dead men. The snipers started once more to work and we returned to the house as the bullets came rather too near to be pleasant. By Thursday night we had six or seven men wounded more or less seriously. We should have been relieved at night but received news that we were not to be until the following night. Friday passed without any further casualties and we were relieved by the 4th Lincolns at 12 pm got safely back to our base at 3 am. We received some very interesting reports from the trenches each day while we were there and I mention the following as an example. On Wednesday night a door in the parapet of the German trenches was seen to open and a party of Germans wearing round caps came through. They lay down in front of their trench with fixed bayonets as though they were going to charge ours. When however, a star shell was sent up by our officers they received such a storm of bullets from our fellows that they turned and ran, and those that were not killed or wounded climbed over their own parapet again. Our fellows stood the test of lying in the wet and muddy trenches wonderfully, well and they got the highest praise from the regular troops out here. We are now resting for four days, and get a bath and change of clothing tomorrow and shall then do another spell in the trenches again, which will be our regular routine now. We are billeted in huts after the style of those in use in England and shall return here ach time to rest. The five days naturally seemed rather long cut off from the world but I guess we shall get used to that.

St. Peter’s Parish Magazine – May 1915
Letter of 19th April, 1915 "On Monday night a Zeppelin came over here and dropped bombs on the town near, killing some civilians. It came right over our barn and the troops opened fire on it, but it got away successfully. On Tuesday we had a jam roll and roast beef for dinner and set off for the trenches at 6.30pm. On reaching the dressing station we found that Frenchman’s Farm was untenable owing to its having been heavily shelled by the enemy the day before when the Lincolns were there. They also shelled the next farm with shrapnel and killed one officer and two men and injured eight others. We therefore went to another farm (Cob) and stayed there without being disturbed. On Wednesday I had my first journey up to the trenches. We had to carry a sheet of corrugated iron each for a new signaller’s dugout, being built for when an advance is made and which will be used for headquarters. It is a pretty rotten job going up, as heaps of bullets whistle about, and most of our fellows get shot whilst taking rations, etc, up to the firing line.
There is a narrow boarded track to walk on, and unless you are very careful you suddenly find yourself in a “Jack Johnson” hole up to the waist in water. All the party I was with got there safely and we brought a wounded man back with us from the support trenches. On Thursday everyone had to stand to as an attack was expected but then it passed fairly quiet. Friday also passed uneventfully, though we were pretty busy on the phone. We should have been relieved by the Lincolns on Saturday night but about 4 pm the order came that we were ordered to help with artillery and rifle fire. It was the fiercest battle I have yet heard, and the noise of the guns all night was terrific. According to report, it was quite successful and for hundred yards of trenches were occupied and held against all counter attacks. Heavy losses were inflicted on the enemy while our own losses were slight. We were complimented on our splendid assistance and did not have a single casualty while the heavy firing was going on. We were relieved last night and the battalion left the trenches with two casualties. Our losses during the week were three killed and seven or eight wounded. I got to our hut about twelve o’clock and had a good night’s sleep. The weather is much better now and it’s a lovely day today and quite hot in the sun. So far no signallers have be hurt and I think that it is one of the best jobs at the trenches, they are fairly safe in their dugouts while the company fellows have to stand in the trenches. I think we shall have some lively times here presently as fresh lots of artillery are being brought into position and the Germans very rarely reply to our gun fire each day.

St Peter’s Parish Magazine – July 15
From Private E L Hall to his parents, June 5th 1915:
“We are having a very decent time at present, but have so far been rather unfortunate with our losses this time. A big shell, one of several sent over by the enemy, burst just against our headquarters in the village about two miles from the firing line and did a great deal of damage. The colonel’s orderly and servant who were standing holding the two hoses of our colonel and the fourth Lincolns’, were with the latter colonel and the horses instantly killed, while our own colonel was wounded, in three places,, and a signaller, Gerald Ayres, who was near, was also wounded but not very badly. The shell blew the house down next to where the operator sat at the telephone and he had a very lucky escape. All our wires were smashed, so that we have had to use my station as headquarters today while they moved to another house. The colonel is already in England and going on as well as can be expected. We are rather short of officers now as the adjutant is ill and in hospital and our senior major, Major Martin, has taken over the command of the 4th Leicesters. The dugout we are now in is easily the best we have had as it is pretty big and we have a nice chair each and two polished oak tables in, as well as a whatnot and several sacred and other pictures hanging on the walls. These were obtained from several ruined farms near here where the former inhabitants have left almost everything behind.”

St Peter’s Parish Magazine – July 1915
From Private E L Hall, June 17th, 1915:
“Sunday passed fairly quietly, though we were shelled in the afternoon without any damage being done. A number of our men were wounded in the firing trenches but no one killed. On Monday our wires to the next support point were broken and I went out with another fellow to mend them. We had just done so when we heard the sound of a big shell coming towards us. It burst on the slope about fifty yards from us and had we not been lying flat on the ground, which we did as soon as we heard it coming, I’m afraid that we should have had a few lumps in us as hundreds of pieces of shell flew over us cutting through the high grass like a mowing machine. We then went back to our dugout and three minutes afterwards another shell came, cutting a large tree clean through the middle, which we had just come under on our way back. The tree falling once more broke the wires and we again went to mend them, but this time without any lively incidents. On Tuesday the Headquarters were brought forward to our station, while we supported an attack which was being made on our left. The Germans seemed to have got wind of our intentions, as at 9.30pm it seemed as though the heavens were opened, the enemy blew three trench mines up and then slung “coal-boxes” and high explosives, shrapnel, rifle grenades and every imaginable thing across while their infantry opened up a terrific fire. The mines were blown up just on our left and were in front of the trenches held by our division. Some forty or more poor fellows were killed and injured and they were still digging for those who were buried when we came out. According to report one or more of the mines burst in between the lines and did great damage to their own trenches. You can guess what the shock was, as tin fell off a shelf at headquarters, nearly two miles away. Our fellows kept up a heavy fire all night and some 100,000 rounds of ammunition passed through our place and were used. At3 pm our trench mortars and artillery etc retaliated and had a good amount of success. I have never heard such heavy rifle fire before and the shots were like hail over our place and the cracking in the tress made a fearful noise. Everything quietened down after 5am and everything went on as usual with slight rifle firing and an occasional shell bursting. Tuesday and Wednesday passed pretty quietly, but we were not sorry to be relieved after so much noise."

St Peter’s Parish Magazine – August 1915
Private Ernest Hall to his parents, July 25th 1915:
"Yesterday was one of the most eventful and liveliest days that we have had for some time. Just before 7 pm we were ordered to leave the dugout and take the phone into the firing trench, as our men were ready to explode a mine under the German trenches, in front of the centre trenches occupied by the 5th. A small sap was blown up first and then the large mine. The earth rocked similar to an earthquake and an enormous cloud of dirt, sandbags etc was thrown up into the air. The damage done to the enemy’s parapet was very extensive and from what could be seen their losses heavy. At the same time as the explosion our artillery concentrated heavy fire on the enemy’s trenches and did some good work. The enemy replied by shelling us very heavily but fortunately did not do much material damage. After a time things quietened down and we went back to the dugout with the phone. I was on duty there at 9.30pm when the place began to rock and another explosion was heard. It proved to be an enemy mine in front of the right trench occupied by us and the left of the 4th Leicesters. Fortunately, it burst some twenty yards in front of the trench and therefore didn’t do so much damage as ours. Some twelve or fifteen poor fellows in Captain Griffith’s company were killed and a nice few wounded. They chiefly belonged to Melton Mowbray and were all buried and some are still missing. A party who were out on listening patrol were near to where the mine exploded and no trace of them has been found. I think the Germans seem to have really lost their heads or their mine would not have gone up so soon. In one case one of their men got over his own parapet and started to run towards our lines. He was at once riddled with bullets, rather unfortunate, I thought as some useful information might have been obtained had we taken him alive. Another battle was expected on our right at Hill…… but nothing has happened up to now and the night has passed fairly quietly.”

St Peter’s Parish Magazine – August 1915
Private E L Hall to his parents, 27th July 1915:
“We were relieved on Sunday night and reached our bivouac field about 12 midnight. For once we were very lucky as an artillery sergeant major passing with an ammunition column asked if we would like a ride on the limbers and we had one nearly all the way back. On the last day in the trenches we had a splendid view of an enemy aeroplane being brought down by one of our own airmen. He had been flying over our trenches all afternoon until about five o’clock, when we suddenly saw one of ours coming at a tremendous rate and trying to get level with him. He succeeded in getting level and then poured a rapid fire from a machine gun into the German, whose machine at once burst into flame and turned upside down. The pilot of the enemy machine was a very plucky fellow, as upside down and his machine on fire as it was, he succeeded in flying spirally from an enormous height until he was on a short distance from the ground. His observer fell out when they were about a thousand feet up and fell between the lines, while the pilot fell with his machine just behind the trench I was in. He was alive when found but died in a short time. On our way out from the trenches we passed very close to the machine but could not see much owing to it being dark. We only stayed in the bivouac field for the night and then marched up to some huts next to those we formerly occupied.”

Hinckley Grammar School Magazine – Autumn Term 1915 and also St. Peter’s Parish Magazine – November 1915
From Private E L Hall to his parents, 18th October 1915….
“About 2 o’clock last Tuesday, we started to march from our billets towards the trenches, which were about 12 miles away. When about four miles from the line we halted for three hours, whilst food etc was served out to us. At 9 o’clock we started on the last part of the journey, which took us until daylight on Wednesday morning, stoppages being constantly caused by troops coming out of the trenches and men only being able to enter the communication trench in single file. I went up to the battalion headquarters, which were in the support trenches and we proceeded to lay out a wire to the Brigade dugouts. We then had a short rest until 12 o’clock, when our artillery bombardment started and continued until 2 o’clock, the enemy retaliating with “crumps” and lyddite shells, which burst unpleasantly near us. Directly the bombardment finished the 4th Leicesters and the 5th Lincolns mounted the parapet and began to double across the open, the 4th Lincolns at once following. It was the first charge that our fellows had made and in the words of some Guards who witnessed it, was simply magnificent. Although raked by Maxims and Shell fire, the men continued on in irresistible lines and the first and second lines of the enemy were occupied and passed over and then the redoubt, or what remained of it after our artillery fire, was also occupied as was also the next trench. Part of the 5th Leicesters, who had at intervals come up to reinforce the attack, penetrated right through to a village behind the enemy lines, this being I believe, the furthest point reached by any men in the Division. They had to retreat again owing to the enemy’s fire and the trench in front of the redoubt was also evacuated but the main part of the redoubt was held and the Leicester and Lincoln Brigade was relieved from there at night by the Notts and Derbys brigade, who had been in the Divisional Reserve. The other Brigade in the Division, the Stafford, were operating on our right but I am not able to say how they went on, except that they no doubt helped towards the success of the divisional attack. We were relieved at daybreak on the Friday morning by the Guards and after marching to the ruined town of V…., were embarked on motor lorries, which took us to our billets. The losses of the Division were very heavy but I think the enemy’s were even greater and considering that we were fighting against the Prussian Guards and Bavarians (which is proved by the helmets captured from them), the fight was a great victory for the “Terrors”. Yesterday afternoon, we were inspected by the GOC, who congratulated us on our success. We are at present having ten days rest, when we shall be once more ready for whatever we are again asked to do.”

Hinckley Grammar School Magazine – Summer Term 1916
From Private E L Hall to his parents….”We had a very pleasant journey, our carriages being wonderful to relate, second-class passenger coaches and we came back much quicker then we went down the line. W has three day rations with u and with our kit, and ten of us a carriage, you can imagine there was not much room to spare but we managed to make ourselves pretty comfortable and with a small tin for a fire bucket, we had hot drinks where we wanted them and we had plenty of wood for fuel. Some of the Frenchies looked at us when they saw our fire and I am afraid the ceilings of the coach were a shade darker when we left them but we still had to live and we don’t usually bother about trifles.”

Hinckley Grammar School Magazine – Autumn Term 1916
From Private E L Hall to his father: “I choose or rather get some queer hours for letter writing. It is nearly midnight now and I don’t suppose I shall get down this side of one o’clock, but I shall be ready for breakfast at 7 as usual. I am splendidly fit and six hours sleep seems plenty while we are up here. Our left sector made a raid last night and succeeded in killing a few Boches and bringing a helmet and identification marks back again, besides doing a good deal of damage to the enemy trenches. There was a very heavy rainfall last night and some of the trenches are knee deep in water….It has been getting later than ever now, as the Intelligence Officer has been giving us some Shakespeare recitations. He is a fine fellow and a great friend to all the section.”

Hinckley Grammar School Magazine – Autumn Term 1917
From Second Lieutenant E L Hall, 3rd Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, to the headmaster…..”I took my commission in the Leicestershire Regiment a couple of months ago and I am at present stationed at Partington. My training course, preparatory to obtaining a commission, took place at Cambridge and I spent a most enjoyable time there for four months. Aft two years in France it has been a great change to be back among such congenial surroundings for work. Like most good things, the time has, however, come again when I shall be saying good-bye to England for another uncertain period. I rather hope it will be the Eastern Front this time, as it would be a change in every way from the Western.”

St. Peter’s Parish Magazine – November 1917
Second-Lieutenant Ernest L Hall lies in a hospital in France dangerously wounded in the chest. He received his commission on August 4th last and was gazetted to the 11th Leicesters. After being here for a few days on draft leave, he went to France on September 25th and had been there just a month when he was wounded (October 23rd). He is now in the Third Canadian Casualty Clearing Station and his orderly writes that he has undergone an operation to remove the shot and is making favourable progress. It is shortly expected that he will be removed down to the base preparatory to his departure for England. We are pleased to announce that Mrs W J Hall is recovering from the effects of shock occasioned on learning the news of her son’s injury. She has also regained her speech.

St. Peter’s Parish Magazine – December 1917
Much sympathy is felt for Mr and Mrs W J Hall and Mr and Mrs J G Burchnall in the loss of their eldest sons. Both were in their twenty fourth year and had been lifelong friends and it so happened that they died on the same day, though inn different spheres of the world-wide war.
Despite the hope entertained of his removal and recovery, Second Lieutenant Ernest L Hall succumbed on November 6th to his wounds at the 3rd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, France.
Major R H Radford, commanding the Leicesters, wrote later to Mr and Mrs Hall explaining that the deceased was wounded by a shell which landed right amongst a party he was in command of, killing eight and wounding ten others. Major Radford added: “I was in great hopes he would recover, poor fellow. He was taken at once to an advanced dressing station and then onto the Canadian Casualty Clearing Station. This was a good way behind the line and I was unable to go myself or send any of my officers to see him and now the battalion has moved a long way off. Your son only joined me on the 15th October and I am indeed very sorry to lose such a promising officer and I hope that you will accept my sympathy as well as that of the officers of the battalion in the great loss you and your family have incurred.”
Captain A W Petre, Officer Commanding D Company, also writes to offer his sympathy: “Though your son had only been with us a short time, he had endeared himself to all of us and I feel that we have lost not only a splendid Officer but also a true and trusted friend. There is little I can tell you of his last hours as I left the country on the day following that on which your son was wounded but I am assured that everything that medical skill could do for him was done and that at no time after his arrival at the CCS was he in great pain.”
Second Lieutenant Hall was an old boy of Hinckley Grammar School and was mobilised with the Hinckley Territorials on the outbreak of war. He proceeded to Luton and after six months training went out to France. Here he participated in much severe fighting, including the attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt and the memorable engagements on the Somme. He was made a corporal of the signalling section in October 1915.
In February last he came home to study for his commission and passing out well, was in August gazetted to the Leicesters. He rejoined his regiment at Partington and a fortnight later was sent on draft to the front. He had been back in the firing line less than a month.
The deceased, besides being a member of St. Peter’s Club and the Football Club was also a member of our Dramatic Society and acted in both of its productions. In “Don Quixote” he took the part of secretary to Sancho Panza. He is the fifth member the Society has lost by death in a little less than two years. A Mass will be offered during January next for his eternal repose – RIP.”

Hinckley Grammar School Magazine – Obituary
ERNEST LOUIS HALL (1905–1909), mobilised with the Hinckley Territorials on the outbreak of war; trained at Luton for six months. Went to France 1915; took part in the attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt and in the Battle of the Somme; corporal in the signalling section, October 1915. Returned to England in February 1917; trained for a commission at Trinity College, Cambridge; gazetted to the 11th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, August 1917. He proceeded again to the front in August. He was killed in Action November 6th, 1917. Aged 23.

Date of Birth : 25.8.1894

Place of Birth : Hinckley, Leics

Date of Death : 6.11.1917

Place of Death : Poperinge, Belgium

Civil Occupation : Carpenter

Period of Service : 1913-17

Conflicts : WW1

Places Served : France and Flanders