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In memory of

Private Ernest Gough Coxon

Royal Army Medical Corps

Regimental Number 101620

Ernest Gough Coxon was born in Netherseal in April 1890, son of

William Brotherhood Coxon and Elizabeth (nee Gough). He was baptised

on 29th March 1891. Ernest was the third of four children. He had two

brothers, John William and Edward, and a sister, Mary Elizabeth.

In the 1891 Census records, Ernest and his family were living at the

Cricketts Inn, Acresford. His grandfather John Brotherhood was a

Licensed Victualler and his father was a Brewery Labourer. His mother

Elizabeth was the Housekeeper. 1

1 Family Tree information provided by Jill Hempsall using records from Ancestry.co.uk

The 1891 Census

shows Ernest’s

father William was

recorded with a

surname of

Brotherhood, as is

the whole family.

This seems to be

something that

changes for each

Census. Sometimes

the family are

registered as Coxon

(1861, 1901 and

1911), and

sometimes

Brotherhood (1871,

1881).2 Ernest’s

grandfather is a

Brotherhood.

2 www.ancestry.co.uk 1891 Census

At the time of the 1891 Census, there were five cottages around the Cricketts

Inn, with families living in each one. The occupations listed were Maltster,

Brewery Waggoner, Coachman, and Farm Labourer/Shepherd.3

In the 1901 Census, Ernest was 11 years old and still living at the Cricketts Inn

with his family and grandfather. Ernest’s father was a Farm Labourer Waggoner

and his mother a Dairy Maid. Ernest’s eldest brother John was a Farm Labourer

Cowman.4

By 1911, Ernest was 21 years old, single and still living with his family. They were

now living at Coronation Villa on the outskirts of Netherseal. His grandfather

was retired,so they no longer lived at the Cricketts Inn. This photo of

Coronation Villa was taken in 2018. In 2019, the building was knocked down and a

new house built.

3 www.ancestry.co.uk 1891 Census 4 www.ancestry.co.uk 1901 Census

http://www.ancestry.co.uk/

By 1911, Ernest was working as a Pipe Works Machine Feeder, Sanitary Pipe Works. We know from an obituary article

in the Burton Chronicle of 1918 that Ernest worked for Messrs Robinson and Dowler Pipe Works at Overseal.

This photograph shows the

Robinson and Dowler Pipe

Works factory at Overseal.5

Below that is a map from

around 1900, overlaid onto a

more up to date map towards

the right hand side.6 The Pipe

Works factory where Ernest

worked is on the top left of the

map (Canal Works, Sanitary

Pipe).

Air pollution from the Pipe

Works affected the whole

area. Great swathes of smoke

belched from the kilns and

chimneys. Salt glazing, an

important process in the

production of pipes, produced

hydrochloric acid when salt was

thrown onto them, and this

gave off an acrid smell that

permeated the area, especially

on foggy mornings. Noise, dust

and grime were the norm.

Wildlife was lacking, apart

from fox families and rabbits

that made their homes in the

clay holes.7

It is possible to understand

then why Ernest chose to join

the army.

5 Photo from www.blacktogreen.org.uk; 6 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland 7 From Pit to Plantation Walk www.discoveringbritain.org

On 4th September 1915, Ernest enlisted as a Private in the Royal Army Medical

Corps at Netley, near Southampton.8 He was 25 years old.

8 www.ancestry.co.uk British Army WW1 Service Records 1914-1920

9


On 28th December 1915, Ernest married Beatrice Mary Wagg, after the Banns

had been read at St Peter’s Church in Netherseal.10 At the time, Beatrice was

living at Seale Pastures Farm in Netherseal.

Ernest was stationed with the RAMC at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley for

two years - from 4th September 1915 to 10th September 1917.11 It is not known

what role he performed whilst he was there.

12

10 www.ancestry.co.uk CofE Marriages and Banns, Seale St Peters; 11 www.ancestry.co.uk British Army WW1 Service Records 1914-1920; 12 www.qaranc.co.uk/netleyhospital.php

The Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley (also known as Netley Hospital).

The vast Royal Victoria Hospital was as big as a town, with its own gasworks,

bakery, school, stables, reservoir and even a prison. But it was still too small to

cope with the industrial-scale carnage of the first world war. In response to the

unimagined new scale of war, a vast "hutted hospital" was constructed, using

wooden "kit-built" field huts on the plateau behind the main hospital. 13

14

Thousands of men

and women lived and

died in this place,

remembered in sepia-

scored letters and

postcards, and

pictures taken by

local photographers –

very few of which

survive today.

13 www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/aug/21/first-world-war-royal-victoria-hospital-netley-in-pictures; 14 www.netley-military-cemetery.co.uk/1914-1918-wwi/british-red-cross-hospital;

Patients wore blue woollen suits with white lapels and red ties, called "hospital

undress" – a reminder to anyone who might encounter convalescent soldiers that

they were still serving men (and not potential cowards to be handed white

feathers).

15

So vast and teeming was this wartime site - up to three trains a day would arrive

to bring wounded from the front - only here could British civilians come close to

the reality of what was going on in Europe. The infrastructure needed to supply

and staff Netley meant that the local population knew better than most the

true horror of the war – a story carefully concealed from the rest of the

country by a government wary of its effect on morale.

At Netley, young nurses, often in their teens and with no previous medical

experience, had to deal with men without limbs or faces, and men who had lost

their minds to the war.

Netley also boasted the first purpose-built military asylum. Here men suffering

extreme psychosis were treated. One-half of all men suffering from shellshock

were cleared through or treated at Netley. 16

15 www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/aug/21/first-world-war-royal-victoria-hospital-netley-in-pictures; 16 www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/aug/21/first-world-war-royal-victoria-hospital-netley-in-pictures

On 11th September

1917, Ernest left

Netley Hospital and

was posted to France.

He embarked

Southampton, and

arrived at Le Havre on

12th September. He

travelled to Rouen on

16th September and

joined the Cyclists

Base Depot. 17

17 www.ancestry.co.uk British Army WW1 Service Records 1914-1920;

The Base Depot at Rouen dealt with supplies, reinforcements, remounts,

ordnance, mechanical transport and the sick and wounded (hospitals). No.5

General Base Depot was for the RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corp).18

At some stage in September 1917, Ernest transferred from the Rouen Base

Depot to the 32nd Base Hospital at Wimereux.19

Base Hospitals were part of the casualty evacuation chain, further back from

the front line. They were manned by troops of the Royal Army Medical Corps,

with attached Royal Engineers and men from the Army Service Corps.

In the theatre of war in France and Flanders, the British hospitals were

generally located near the coast. They needed to be close to a railway line, in

order for casualties to arrive (although some came by canal barge); they also

needed to be near a port where men could be evacuated for longer-term

treatment in Britain.

These hospitals were large facilities, often centred in some pre-war buildings

such as seaside hotels. They grew in number and scale throughout the war.

20

The 32nd Base Hospital at Wimereux.

The 32nd Base Hospital was formerly the Australian Voluntary Hospital, staffed

largely by Australian doctors and nurses based in the UK. It was originally set up

in Le Havre in August 1914 and then moved to St Nazaire in September because

of the German advance. The 100-bed hospital was set up in a park under canvas

and began receiving casualties from the retreat from Mons the next day.

On 26 October 1914, the Voluntary Hospital moved to Wimereux where it

established a 200-bed hospital. It was well equipped, with motor ambulances

donated by organisations in Australia, a pathology lab and the only X-Ray unit in

the area. The day after it opened on 29th October, it began receiving patients

from the First Battle of Ypres. The voluntary hospital was eventually absorbed

into the British Army as No. 32 Stationary Hospital. By May 1919, the hospital

had treated 73,868 patients.21

18 www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/other-aspects-of-order-of-battle/british-base-depots-in-france-1914-1918 19 www.ancestry.co.uk British Army WW1 Service Records 1914-1920 20 www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/british-base-hospitals-in-france/ 21 www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Voluntary_Hospital

22

The 32nd Stationary Hospital

at Wimereux (and formerly

the Grand du Golf et

Cosmopolite).

The canvas tents by the hospital was

accommodation for the nursing

staff.23

24Photographs of the 32nd Stationary Hospital at Wimereux.

22 www.thecowkeeperswish.com/tag/ww1-nurses; 23 www.huntervalleygreatwarnurses.com/about/short-stories/australian-first-for-newcastle-matron 24 https:/www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205243940;

The Influenza Pandemic of 1918.

The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe in recent history. It spread

worldwide and it is estimated that about 500 million people became infected.

Between 20 and 40 million people are believed to have died. The first wave,

which caused very few deaths, took place in the Spring of 1918. By October and

November, the virus had mutated, becoming extremely virulent.25 Soldiers

probably brought it over to Britain from France.26

One of the key factors in the transmission of the virus lay with the treatment

of those in the army who were highly ill and infected. Traditionally speaking, in

civilian life those who were extremely ill remained stationary, usually at home,

and were treated there.

In the army, those who were in similar situations were, by necessity, evacuated

from the trenches and passed through various field hospitals and medical

outposts. Those men who were suffering from the virus brought it with them

out of the trenches and into hospitals and railway stations. From there it

spread.27

Ernest Gough Coxon died on 10th

November 1918 from “Influenzal-

Pneumonia” – a common description of

what we now know as the ‘Spanish Flu’.

The war officially ended the next day,

11th November 1918.

An official report dated 25th November

reads as follows:

“This man developed Influenzal-

Pneumonia while employed in the ward

during the recent severe epidemic of

that disease. In my opinion his last

illness was the result of prolonged

exposure to the infection and fatigue

while on Military Service”.

25 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2805838/ 26 www.history.blog.gov.uk/2018/09/13/the-flu-that-wasnt-spanish/ 27 www.eastsussexww1.org.uk/influenza-pandemic/index.html

War Records provide details of Ernest’s wife Beatrice’s address (Station Drive,

Moira) at the time of his death, and also those of his father and mother,

brothers and sister.28


Obituary reports from the Burton

Chronicle detailing Ernest’s death,

and one year later a message from

his wife Beatrice.29

Ernest was awarded the

Victory Medal and the

British War Medal for

his service in the First

War.30

Beatrice acknowledged

receipt of the medals in

March, 1923.31

29 Information from the Magic Attic, Swadlincote. 30 www.ancestry.co.uk British Army WW1 Service Records 1914-1920 31 www.ancestry.co.uk British Army WW1 Service Records 1914-1920

Official records show that Ernest’s ‘effects’ (outstanding pay and War Gratuity)

was authorised for payment to Beatrice on 12th June 1919.32

Records also show that Ernest had a Will – Probate was registered in 1940. 33

Ernest is buried at Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, France.

32 www.ancestry.co.uk British Army WW1 Service Records 1914-1920 33 www.ancestry.co.uk England and Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1858-1995, 1940

Details of Registration at Terlincthun. Plot 9, Row E.

34

34 www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/4024970/coxon,-ernest-gough/#&gid=null&pid=1;

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