Peter Wise and Brenda McMahon have submitted the following:-
Ernest was born the son of William and Sarah at Middlesbrough in 1891. His siblings were John, James and sister Lilian.
The 1901 census shows Ernest and his brother John living with their widowed mother Sarah at 4 Well Yard Cockermouth. His other siblings were James and Lilian. His mother came from Keswick and was working as a charlady to support her family.
By 1911 Ernest had already joined the army at the age of 19. He was stationed at the Martinique Barracks in Hampshire serving with the 2nd Battalion Border Regiment but went on to serve all over the world.
By 1911 Lilian (a thread winder), John and James are living with their mother Sarah (now a hawker) and her husband of four years William Hamilton (brick layer labourer). The family lived in 2 rooms at 4 Browns Yard Barnard Castle.
After being transferred to the Dardenelles Ernest was wounded on May 5th 1915 and was awarded a wound stripe. Soon afterwards however he was killed in action on August 21st 1915 after major assaults in the area of Hill 60 and the coinciding Battle of Scimitar Hill.
Ernest's name was mentioned in the local newspapers the Cumberland News 22/05/1915 then later in an article on 22/05/1915. The Westmorland Gazette also mentioned him in their edition of 09/10/10919.
There are several ‘In memoriam’ notices published by his family in the Teesdale Mercury.
Just over a year later his brother, John was also killed in action on October 7th 1916.
Ernest is listed on the Helles Memorial in Turkey alongside almost 21,000 of his comrades.
Ernest Kelly is remembered at Barnard Castle on B135.02, B135.23 and B135.25
