Today we remember Driver John Thomas Ellison, of ‘C’ Battery, 4th Brigade HQ the Royal Horse Artillery, who died of injury on Sept. 7th 1916 aged 28. Born in Flore in 1888 he had followed both his paternal and maternal grandfathers as well as his father into the army. Some of his siblings were born in Weedon during a time when his father was based at the Depot. His death certificate gives his cause of death as ‘ruptured “vascera” – internal haemorrhage’. Vascera is the collective term for the large internal organs of the body, especially those in the abdominal cavity. Perhaps what we would call today a rupture? Treatment should be swift and calls for prompt transportation to a hospital. Fortunately the battery was stationed not far from Etaples, home to an immense concentration of reinforcement camps and hospitals during WW1. Sadly, John did not survive and is buried in the immense CWGC cemetery at Etaples – where over 10,000 burials are concentrated. He is named on both the village War Memorial and on the Memorial Plaque inside St Peter’s Church.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 09:00:41 +0000