Pte Ernest George Chamberlain, 14553, 6th Battalion Royal West Kent Regiment, was reported missing on October 7th, 1916. But it was not until more than 10 months later that his widow Edith in Luton was informed that he was presumed killed in action on that date.
A brief report in The Luton News on September 6th, 1917, said that beyond the official fact that Pte Chamberlain had died, no particulars had been received. The newspaper report said that Ernest had been employed as a painter by builder Mr Ted Day, of Smart Street, until he joined up on April 9th, 1916, and was drafted to France in September - about a month before his death.
Ernest's military record shows that he was living at 9 Moreton Road, Round Green, when he attested, but that at the time of his death his widow was living at 361 Hitchin Road.
Born in Stopsley, the son of farm labourer John and his wife Clara Chamberlain, Ernest married Edith Minnie Claridge at St Thomas's Church, Stopsley, on September 26th, 1914. They had a son, Derrick Ernest, born on October 2nd, 1916, just five days before his father's death.