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8023 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
Ernest Tatum was born in Cockfield around 1891, one of six children of Arthur and Elizabeth Tatum. His father was employed as an agricultural labourer; his mother a horsehair weaver. The family moved to Hebbs Green in Lawshall before moving to 51 East Street, Sudbury.
Ernest enlisted in Bury St. Edmunds and served with the Suffolk Regiment , it is not known when in 1915 Ernest first served in ‘a theatre of war’. The battalion formed part of 8th Brigade, 3rd Division; in the spring of 1915 the battalion were in the trenches in the Ypres Salient and although on constant readiness were not required to attack the enemy during the Second Battle of Ypres (22 April–25 May).
Later that year Ernest’s battalion saw action at the Battle of Loos (25 September – 15 October 1915) when they fought at the Second Battle of Bellewaarde in support of the opening attack. The Battle of Loos resulted in more than 61,000 casualties one of which was Ernest.
Ernest was killed in action on 30 September 1915. There is no known grave and he is remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium.
He was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. A Cross of Remembrance was laid at the Menin Gate in April 2006, April 2009 and October 2012.
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