Ernest Rolfe
Rank: Lance Corporal
Service Number: 23919
Date of Birth: 1895
Regiment: 1st/1st Bn Cambridgeshire Regiment
Date of Death: 28 August 1918
Age at death: 23
Cemetery / Memorial: Meaulte Military Cemetery
Country: France
Grave / Reference: E.1
Relatives: Son of Frederick Rolfe, husband of Mrs E.A. Suttle (formerly Rolfe).
Address: 113 Angel Street, Hadleigh, Suffolk
Lance Corporal Ernest Frederick Rolfe was born August 1895 at Upper Layham and in 1911 was working as a market gardener. He married Hadleigh girl, Eva Skinner, in January 1916 and was mobilised with the 7th Suffolks the next month.
1911 Census
He probably enlisted under the Lord Derby scheme at the end of the previous year, his marriage having come too late for him to be classified as a married man and given a few months grace before being called into service. His son Ernest Arthur was born later that year. Ernest Rolfe probably saw action at the Battle of Arras in April 1917 and almost a year later experienced the full force of the German’s Spring Offensive.
Medal Index Card
In May 1917 the 7th Suffolks were reduced to a cadre with the fighting men including Ernest being transferred to the 1/1st Cambridgeshire regiment. The battalion was in the front line south of Albert from the start of the Allied August offensive and throughout most of month.
On 28 August they held Maltz Horn Ridge close to Guillemont and Trones Wood where there was heavy shelling throughout the day with thirty seven casualties, among them was Ernest Rolfe. He has a known grave at Meaulte Military Cemetery and he is remembered on both the Layham and Hadleigh war memorials.
