Ernest William Dolphin
Private 29216 - 1st Bn. East Lancashire Regiment
Killed in action on Thursday 4th October 1917, age 31.
No known grave but is commemorated on Tyne Cot Memorial,
Zonnebeke, Belgium
In 1875 Edward Dolphin a Hoop Shaver (Cooper), married Ann Laurence, daughter of
William and Mary, who lived in Cowley when she was christened in 1855.
Between 1875 and 1881 Edward and Ann had five known children: Elizabeth, Albert
Edward, John, Henry and Alice.
By 1881 the couple were living on Newport Road and had two children at home: Albert
aged 7 and Alice aged 2. Their nearest neighbours were grocers and drapers Charles and
Ann Wedge & William Rhodes. Edward's widowed mother Mary lived nearby on Newport
Road.
Between 1887 and 1891 three more children were born: Ernest William , Alfred Edwin
and Edith Mary; only Ernest William survived and was at home with his parents aged 4 in
1891, along with brother Albert, then aged 17 and a Letter Carrier, sister Alice aged 10
and grandmother Mary who had moved in with the family.
Edward's mother Mary Dolphin, widow of Samuel, died in 1893 aged about 75.
In 1901 Edward, Ann, Alice, Ernest and Agnes had moved to No.2 Mill Lane. Their
neighbours were gamekeeper's widow Harriet Crump & Thomas and Sarah Warrender.
By the 1911 census, Ann was living on Wharf Road Gnosall with son Ernest who at 24
was working as a roadman for the County Council, and Agnes Minnie who was 17.
Ann's details stated that during 31 years of marriage she had had 9 children, 4 of whom
were still living.
In 1912 daughter Agnes Minnie Dolphin married Arthur Hill.
Ernest William Dolphin enlisted with the East Lancashire Regiment (his secondary
regiment was the North Staffordshire’s).
He was killed, on Thursday the 4
th
October 1917 whilst fighting in Belgium. He was 31
years old.