Special thanks to Norfolk Libraries
Major Ernest Bird Barratt
128th Indian Pioneers, Indian Army
Died of Wounds
Date of Birth: 1870
Place of Birth: Calcutta, India
Date of Death: 7 June 1916 aged 46
Buried: Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, Iraq
Major Ernest Bird Barratt age 46. Born on 16 February 1870 in Calcutta, India, and baptised on 7 May in Calcutta Cathedral, to James and Eleanor Barratt;
James was working as Harbour Manager. The family returned to live in Bedford after the father’s death.
He was shown on the school records from 1878 to 1880 at Bedford Modern School. On the 1881 census he was shown living with his mother and siblings in Bedford.
Ernest served on the North West frontier of India in 1897-8 and as Captain in the 1900 Boxer Rebellion in China with the 34th Sikh Pioneers, for which he was awarded the Military Order of the Dragon.
He married Dorothy Gomperzt on 19 November 1909 in Bombay where he was serving with the British Army. They moved to Teignmouth prior to the war; his widow, Dorothy, was living at Abbots Leigh, Ferndale Rd, Teignmouth, after his death.
Ernest was serving with the 128th Indian Pioneers, an infantry regiment of the Indian Army, when he was wounded on 17/18 April at Beit Elissa, he was subsequently taken prisoner and died of his wounds on 7 June 1916. His death was reported in the local newspaper on 6 October.
Ernest is buried in Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, Iraq.
Iraq and Basra Rolls of Honour
The Seige of Kut
In December 1915, in Mesopotamia (Modern Iraq), a British-Indian garrison in the town of Kut was put under siege by the Turks. The already weakened defenders were soon starving and sickness became rife.
The 128th Indian Pioneers left Eygpt for Mesopotamia as part of the force sent to relieve the garrison. They suffered heavy losses in unsuccessful battles.
A view across part of Kut. A bomb damaged minaret and a British Union Jack flying from a flagpole. © IWM (Art.IWM ART 2436)
The 7th and 9th Brigade found their trenches blocked with dead, however, the counter-attack had,once again, blunted the British advance and once again the seige of Kut would not be lifted.
The British Army in Mesopotamia, 1914–1918, Paul Knight p94
Times history of the war 1914-1918. Public Domain
Mounds of earth marking the graves of the British in Kut. Bluejackets of the Royal Navy stationed at Kut have collected empty shrapnel cases from the old trenches and placed one on all known spots where dead are buried. © IWM (Q 24534)
The Tigris Corps made several attempts between January and March 1916, to lift the siege of Kut al-Amara; all of which were unsuccessful.
The garrison surrended on the 29 April 1916 and 13,000 men were taken into captivity and marched away. A third died from disease, maltreatment and malnutrition.
"None of them fit to march five miles ... full of dysentery, beri-beri, scurvy, malaria and enteritis; they had no doctors, no medical stores and no transport.
The hot weather, just beginning, would have meant much sickness and many deaths, even among troops who were fit, well-cared for and well supplied.".
Geoffrey Elton, historian and war poet
(He saw the men being marched away)
This emaciated Indian soldier was photographed after he had been liberated during an exchange of prisoners. © IWM (Q 79446)
We know of seven local men who were at Kut, 3500 miles from home.
Six were in the Tigris Corps, the force sent to relieve the garrison:
Private Alfred Albert Vicary of Teignmouth, aged 16, died of wounds.
Private Robert Dewhurst of Teignmouth died of disease four days after the garrison surrendered.
Major Ernest Bird Barratt of Teignmouth was wounded in the battle, taken prisoner and died of his wounds.
Major Frederick William Birch of Shaldon died of wounds in the Battle of Hanna.
Private James Lambe of Shaldon, was believed to have been taken prisoner when the garrison surrrended and died later.
Private William Alfred Prowse of Teignmouth, was part of the Garrison force when Kut had been retaken in 1917, William died of heatstroke.
Lance Corporal Charles Francis Stephens of Teignmouth was part of the relief force. Charles survived WW1 but was killed in WW2 when Teignmouth was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe.
