Selected Biography

Markby, Ernest Charles – Born: Bournemouth, Hampshire on 11.6.1884.[1]  Parents: Henry Markby (Cabman) and Emily [née Dickenson].  Family Connections: Son-in-law of Harry Bell [b1856]; also, brother-in-law of George Harry Bell [b1879], Robert James Bell [b1881], Bertie William Bell [b1882], Percy Alfred Bell [b1884] and James Bell [b1895].  Home: 2 Purbeck Terrace, Bournemouth, Hampshire (1891), Surrey Villas, North Lodge Road, Parkstone, Poole, Dorset (1901 and 1911), Hall Street, Long Melford [1913 to 1917], Rhossilly, 40 Queens Road, Poole, Dorset [1928 to 1931],[2] Bridge House, St Osmunds Road, Parkstone, Poole (1939) to [1963]..  Occupation: Carpenter and Joiner (1901 and 1911), Builder and Contractor, also a member of the Air Raid Precaution Casualty Service (1939).  Married: Kate Ethel Bell of Long Melford in 1913.  Service Record: Prior his conscription on 9.12.1915 as Spr.170094 with the Royal Engineers, Ernest spent three years in the Royal Field Artillery Territorials.  He was posted to France from 7.1.1917 to 31.10.1917 as Pte.24/47883 to 24^th [Service] Battalion [1^st Tyneside Irish], Northumberland Fusiliers, being posted to France from 7.1.1917 as part of 103^rd Brigade, 34^th Division.  From March the Battalion was entrenched near Arras, taking part in the First Battle of the Scarpe on 9.4.1917.  Private Markby contracted trench fever in May 1917 and was sent to N^o. 26 General Hospital at Étaples for several months of treatment.  In his absence his unit had amalgamated with 27^th Battalion, a sister unit from the same Regiment.  He returned to the Front on 23.8.1917, serving briefly with 24^th/27^th Battalion, before joining 20^th [Service] Battalion [1^st Tyneside Scottish], Northumberland Fusiliers at the end of the month, as a stretcher bearer.  His new battalion was manning an active sector area, 40 miles southeast of Arras, at Cologne Farm.  Casualties from trench raids and enemy shelling, from late August to the end of September, saw the loss of over 150 men to Ernest’s unit alone.  Markby was with this unit barely a month when he fell ill again, returning to England on 31.10.1917.[3]  His final move appears to have been to 3^rd [Reserve] Battalion based in Sunderland on 11.1.1918, being issued with a Silver War Badge on 24.8.1918 and discharged as ‘no longer physically fit for War Service’.[4]  Died: Poole, Dorset on 19.2.1963.[5]

Notes – [1] Date of birth from the 1939 Register for Poole in Dorset. [2] Electoral Roll. [3] For details of 24^th, 24^th/27^th and 20^th Battalion’s movements see War Diaries [WO 95/2466/2], [WO 95/2467/2] and [WO 95/2462/4]. [4] He is recorded as Ernest Markley [sic] on his Soldiers’ Documents and Pension Claims, First World War [WO 364].  See also his Service Medal and Award Rolls, First World War, Silver War Badge [WO 329] record [ref. 404294], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372]. [5] Date of death from the National Probate Calendar.