Private Ernest Alfred Fitch

Army Number: 200404 (formerly 2203)

Battalion: 1/5th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derbys) Regiment.

Born and lived at Ilkeston, Derbyshire. Son of Charles and Louisa Fitch, of 8, Roberts Street, Ilkeston. He was a coal miner at Trowell Moor Colliery Company, Derbyshire, prior to enlisting at Ilkeston on 1st July 1914. He was killed in action, on 1st July 1916, aged 19, during the attack on the German positions at Gommecourt, France, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Buried: Gommecourt Wood New Cemetery, Foncquevillers, France. Plot 2, Row D, Grave 17.

Private Fitch is also commemorated on the following local memorials:-
Ilkeston War Memorial (Market Place) Ilkeston, Derbyshire.