James Ernest Ford

He joined the Nottinghamshire Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry in June 1911 and on the outbreak of war was called up for service and went out to Egypt. In April 1915 he obtained a commission, the following October served with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force at Gallipoli where he contracted dysentery. He was invalided to Egypt and then to England. After recovering he was attached to the East Lancashire Regiment at Colchester and later re joined his own regiment the King's Own Scottish Borderers at Edinburgh. He then went to France where he was killed in action on 4th October 1917 while leading his company at Polderhoek Chateaux. His name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot memorial.Captain James Ernest Ford Retford Times 19 Oct 1917Captain James Ernest Ford, KOSB eldest son of Lieutenant J H W Ford and Mrs Ford of Applegate, Newark, has made the great sacrifice. He was killed in action on October 5th. He was 24 years of age, was educated at Magnus Grammar School and Wandsworth College and afterwards entered the office of Messrs Tallens and Co. solicitors, Newark. He was a motor cyclist in the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry and mobilised with the Regiment on the outbreak of war. The Ford family have a fine military record. Lieutenant J H W Ford, who at the outbreak of was was in the Sherwood Rangers obtained a Leiutenancy and saw service with the Rangers in Egypt, Salonika and Servia. In addition to the late Captain Ford he has two other sons serving, Second Lieut T A Ford and Sub Lieut Harold Ford RNV. His sister Miss Elsie Ford is a dispenser in a military hospital at Faversham.

The following is an extract from the Magnus School, Newark , diary of the 'Great War' :- Thursday 4 October 1917: Educated at the Magnus and Wandsworth College, 24-year-old James Ernest Ford left a heart-broken fiancée as well as devastated parents when he was killed in action with the 1st Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers during at an attack across the Lauterbeek. The eldest son of Captain James Henry William and Sarah Ford of 11 Appletongate, Newark, he was embarking on a career in accountancy and serving as a motor-cyclist in the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry (Territorial Army). Mobilised with the Regiment on the outbreak of war, he entered the Dardanelles campaign in 1915 and was given a commission. After being invalided from Gallipoli to England with dysentery, he recovered to be drafted to France in November 1916. He became engaged to the daughter of a retired Army officer, Miss Beryl Hunter in August 1917, but never got home again to see his bride-to-be. It was 13 before James and Sarah received a telegram: ‘Regret to inform you Capt J E Ford KOSB was killed in action on 5 October. Army Council expresses their sympathy.’ Three letters over the next few days told them how valued he was by his comrades. The chaplain wrote: ‘The Battalion was engaged in heavy fighting … and your son was in command of his Company. Everybody’s testimony is to the same effect – that he did splendidly. That was only what we expected of him from his previous record. He was an excellent officer at all times and did his duty nobly.’ Now his parents have the task of breaking the news of his death to 24-year-old Beryl. James is remembered at the Tyne Cot Memorial, Ypres, and on the Newark Rowing Club Memorial. Beryl was married in 1923 to Stephen V Palmer at Hendon, north London.