Turner, Ernest Muncaster

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Ernest Muncaster Turner

629567, Lance Corporal, 47th Canadian Infantry
Killed in action, 16 March 1917, aged 35
Buried at Villers Station Cemetery, Villers-Au-Bois, France

CWGC registered (Son of Edwin and Margaret Turner, of Cardiff, Wales; husband of Elizabeth Turner, of 1183, 18th St, Edmonds, British Columbia)

MARCH IN HEAVENLY ARMOUR CLAD

Ernest Muncaster Turner was born in Llandudno on 10 February 1882. He was the son of Edwin Turner, an architect, and his wife Margaret Ann (née Muncaster) of “Holme Lea”, Tudno Street, Llandudno. In 1890, he was recorded in the registers of both St. George’s and St. Beuno’s Schools having previously been privately educated. The 1891 Census for Wales records the family living at “Bryn Tabor”, Ty Gwyn Road and ten years later, it lived at “Abbotsford”, Great Orme’s Road – Ernest (19) being described as an architect’s assistant. He served for two years with the 1st Carnarvonshire Royal Garrison Artillery (Territorial Force).

On a date presently unknown, Ernest Turner emigrated to British Colombia, Canada. He married Elizabeth Trawford (née Morris), a widow with three children at New Westminster on 26 July 1912, their son, also Ernest Muncaster Turner, being born in 1914. Ernest had joined the militia, namely the 104th Westminster Fusiliers of Canada and on 6 August 1914, the Regiment was placed on active service for local protection duties and began to recruit men for the new 47th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry from New Westminster, Vancouver and Victoria for service overseas. Ernest joined the new battalion on 30 September 1915 at Vermont BC. He gave his address as 2 Princess Street, New Westminster and his trade as a labourer. His attestation papers show a regimental number of 629567 though an earlier number of 89871 is also evident. Whether or not Ernest sailed with the battalion to England on 13 November 1915 and disembarked with it in France on 11 August 1916 is presently unknown.

The war diary for the 47th Battalion records that Ernest Turner was killed in action on 16 March 1917 near Chateau de la Haie in the Lens Sector. He was aged 35 and was buried at Villers Station Cemetery, Villers-Au-Bois. The Commonwealth War Grave Commission’s register, which was compiled in the 1920s, gives an address for his widow in Edmonds, British Colombia; it also states that he was [then] the son of Edwin and Margaret Turner of Cardiff. The latter is confusing because Edwin Turner died in 1910 at Llandudno and is buried in St. Tudno’s Churchyard. A memorial to Ernest Turner is inscribed on his father’s headstone.

Known memorials:

  • Llandudno Roll of Honour
  • Llandudno War Memorial
  • Memorial Chapel, Holy Trinity Church, Llandudno
  • Canadian Book of Remembrance
  • Father’s headstone, St. Tudno’s Churchyard

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