Ernest Arthur Hopewell
In 1911, he was a clerk.
- Family History
- Military history
- Extra information
- Photographs
Ernest Arthur Hopewell was born in 1894 the son of Arthur, a labourer, and Amelia Hopewell (née Heaps). Arthur was born on 27th March 1861 at Cotgrave, Amelia Heaps on 8th August 1865, at Doddington, Cambridgeshire. Married in 1888 at Nottingham, they had the following children -, Ellen Amelia b.1889 Hyson Green, Florence Edith b.1890 Hyson Green, Annie Elizabeth b.1894 Nottingham, Ernest Arthur b.1894 Hyson Green, Herbert Bolton b.1896 Nottingham, Frederick b.1897 Hyson Green and John Thomas b.1899 Nottingham. In 1911, they lived at 29, Highbury Avenue, Bulwell. Annie was a draper’s assistant and Herbert a grocer's assistant.
Ernest Arthur Hopewell enlisted at Nottingham and landed in France on 21 May 1915.
Ernest died on 22 August 1916 from wounds received in action and is buried in Peronne Road Cemetery, Maricourt, France (grave ref. II.G.5). The history of the Cemetery indicates that Ernest's grave was brought in after the Armistice from either a neighbouring battlefield or smaller burial ground.
He qualified for the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.
CWGC History of the Peronne Road Cemetery (extract): The Cemetery is about 10/11kms from the town of Albert. 'Maricourt was, at the beginning of the Battles of the Somme 1916, the point of junction of the British and French forces, and within a very short distance of the front line; it was lost in the German advance of March 1918, and recaptured at the end of the following August. The Cemetery, originally known as Maricourt Military Cemetery No.3, was begun by fighting units and Field Ambulances in the Battles of the Somme 1916, and used until August 1917; a few graves were added later in the War, and at the Armistice it consisted of 175 graves which now form almost the whole of Plot I. It was completed after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the battlefields in the immediate neighbourhood and from certain smaller burial grounds, including ... [listed].' (www.cwgc.org)
Ernest Arthur's brother, 93153 Private John Thomas Hopwell, 2/7th Battalion Sherwood Foresters, was killed in action on 14 April 1918 (Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium). See record on this Roll of Honour.
Their brother Fred's son, Sub Lieutenant (A) Gordon F Hopewell RNVR, served with 747 Naval Air Squadron, a Fleet Air Arm Naval Air Squadron, and was killed in a flying accident on 20 December 1943. See record on this Roll of Honour.
CWGC Additional information: Son of Arthur and Amelia Hopewell, of 29. Highbury Avenue, Bulwell, Nottingham.
CWGC headstone personal inscription: 'He gave his life for us ever in our thoughts parents and all'
Nottingham Evening Post, ‘Deaths’, 31 July 1936: ‘Hopewell. Amelia, passed peacefully away at son’s residence, Netherfield, July 29th. Service, St Aidan’s, Basford, Sunday, 1pm. Interment Kimberley 2pm.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
Additional information RF (Aug. 2025)
Ernest Hopewell
Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone at Peronne Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, France. Courtesy of Murray Biddle