Ernest Robert Long

Memorial: Thornbury - St Mary's Church

Regiment: Gloucestershire Regiment

Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Private 2267

Parents: Robert and Clara Long

Marital status: Married

Home address: Buckover, Thornbury, Bristol

Pre-war occupation: General Labourer/ Army Reserve

Date of birth: 1887

Place of birth: Milbury Heath, Thornbury, Bristol

Date of death: 29/01/1915

Buried/Commemorated at: Guards’ Cemetery, Windy Corner, Cuinchy (Ref. I. J. 16.); Thornbury United Reformed Church Memorial Tablet

Age: 27

Further information:

Bronze Tablet and Wooden Memorial Board

Ernest Robert Long, known as Erney, was baptised in Thornbury in August 1887, the eldest child of Robert and Clara Long. He had four brothers and a sister. The family lived variously at Milbury Heath and Buckover, other addresses in Thornbury town, and briefly in Coleford and Monmouthshire. In 1901 Erney was working at the Saw Mills in Thornbury, with his father

In October 1908 Erney married Lilian Lippiatt in Bristol, where both were residents. The couple had two daughters, Florence born in Thornbury in 1909 and Lilian born in Olveston at the end of 1910. The family was living in Olveston in 1911. Erney was a general labourer

The South Gloucestershire Chronicle reported that before the war Erney had served in the old Militia and then joined the National Reserve. He was called up to join 1st Battalion, Glosters, which landed in France on 13th August 1914, part of 1st Division. They fought in the Battle of Mons and the following retreat, the Battles of The Marne and Aisne, First Battle of Ypres, and other actions. At the start of 1915, 1st Division were at the La Bassée front, near Béthune, and on 25th January fought at Givenchy. The weather was very wet

On 29th January, the Kaiser’s birthday, the British came under heavy German assault at Cuinchy. Known as Cuinchy Brickstacks, part of the area was the site of former brickworks, which contained many huge stacks of bricks, solid cubes of about 12 square yards and 16 feet high. A wide canal ran through the village. The communication trenches had not been completed and the fire trenches were full of water. In 'Goodbye To All' That Robert Graves wrote, ‘Cuinchy bred rats. They came up from the canal and multiplied exceedingly.’ Erney was Killed in Action that day, shot in the head by a sniper. At the crossroads near Cuinchy, known to the army as 'Windy Corner', there was a house used as a Battalion headquarters and dressing station. A cemetery was established here

The village of La Bassée was completely destroyed by shelling during the war. La Bassée Road, one of the soldiers’ songs, has the lines:
‘The night-breeze sweeps La Bassée Road, the night-dews wet the hay,
The boys are coming back again, a straggling crowd are they.
The column's lines are broken, there are gaps in the platoon,
They'll not need many billets, now, for soldiers in Béthune,
For many boys, good lusty boys, who marched away so fine,
Have now got little homes of clay beside the firing line.
Good luck to them, God speed to them, the boys who march away,
A-singing up La Bassée Road each sunny, summer day’

At least four Long brothers served in the army. Ernest, Sidney and William all died and are remembered together on this memorial, the greatest loss of any family in Thornbury. Their younger brother Harold was in action as a Lance Corporal with the 5th Glosters

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

Thornbury Roots Website. Thornbury and District Museum Research Group. Forces War Records and the CWGC