Ernest Eckersley

Rank: Private, British Army

Service Number: 45629

Unit: First Company, 7th Battalion, 125th Brigade, Lancashire Fusiliers, 42nd Division, East Lancashire

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: April 5, 1918

Memorialized at: Bay 5, Arras Memorial, Faubourg-d’Amiens Cemetery, Arras, France

Awards: Victory Medal, British War Medal

Private Ernest Eckersley was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, England on March 11, 1893 to David and Ann Eckersley. He came to America with his mother and sister Helen on the steamship Bergenland, sailing from Liverpool for Philadelphia on January 23, 1901, to join his father in North Camden. His father had come before them and lived at 537 North 10th Street when his family arrived in America. The Eckersley family then lived with a widow, Mrs. Ellen Van Hart, at 1005 Penn Street in Camden, NJ. They had moved to 719 North 9th Street by the time America entered the War. By June of 1917, Ernest Eckersley had moved to 1011 Locust Street in Philadelphia, PA. He worked as an iron worker and helper for Thomas Cusack of 213 South 10th Street, Philadelphia, and was unmarried when he registered for the draft on June 5, 1917.

Ernest Eckersley was rejected three times for enlistment in the United States Army and finally went to the Canadian Recruiting Mission in Philadelphia, where he was accepted. He was assigned to a British Army unit, the Lancashire Fusiliers.

Private Ernest Eckersley was killed in action during the Battle of the Ancre on April 5, 1918. He was survived by his father and sister. His father was still lodging with Mrs. Van Hart as late as April of 1930, at 714 North 9th Street in North Camden.

Private Eckersley is memorialized at the Arras Memorial in Arras, France. The Arras Memorial is in the Faubourg-d’Amiens Cemetery, in the Boulevard du General de Gaulle in the western part of the town of Arras. The Memorial commemorates almost 35,000 casualties of the British, New Zealand and South African Forces who died between Spring 1916 and August 7, 1918 — with the exception of casualties of the Battle of Cambrai in 1917 — and who have no known grave.