Ernest Cole Fleming MC

RankMajor Ernest Cole Fleming
MedalsMilitary Cross, 1914 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal, MiD(2)
RegimentRoyal Field Artillery, 'C' Battery, 121st Brigade
Military Service

Fleming attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich from 1901, was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in July 1903 and promoted to Lieutenant in July 1906. Part of his early career was spent in Ireland with the 15th Battery Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) at Waterford and Dundalk. By 1909 he was serving with 77th Battery of 6 Brigade, RHA stationed at Lucknow, India. A year later he was commanding ‘A’ Ammunition Column at Campbellpore in the Punjab near Rawalpindi. Late in 1912 he returned to Britain and was posted to K Battery, RHA.
He was still with K Battery at the outbreak of war and arrived at the front in early October as part of 15 Brigade [later renumbered 4 Brigade] attached to the 3rd Cavalry Division. By the end of October he had been promoted to Captain and in January 1915 transferred, as Adjutant, to 45 Brigade, Royal Field Artillery (RFA) part of the 8th Division. He was Mentioned in Despatches in May 1915 while serving with 45 Brigade which he left in October 1915 to take command of a battery (unidentified at present). He was Mentioned in Despatches for a second time in April 1916, took part in the Battle of the Somme later that year and was wounded in November, which resulted in several months recuperation in Britain. During this period at home his MC was announced in the New Year’s Honours of 1st January 1917 and he married in January 1917.
He returned to the front in March 1917 in time to take part in the Battles of Arras in April and Messines Ridge in the first half of June. He was gassed during the latter and send home for a short while but was back by the 25th June. At his death he was commanding C Battery in 121 Brigade, 38th Division but it is apparent, from letters of condolence, that he had not been there long.

Born

27th May 1884

Death18th July 1917
Circumstances of Death

Killed in action.
At Boesinghe, near Ypres, while checking lines of fire.

Age33
BurialBard Cottage Cemetery, III. C. 13.

His widow chose the lines ‘Splendid you passed, the great surrender made / into the light that never more shall fade’ taken from the poem, and later hymn, ‘O Valiant hearts’ for his gravestone.

CWGC Information

Son of the late W. J. Fleming, M.D., of Glasgow; husband of Hazel Fleming (formerly widow of Capt. G. A. Furse, R.F.A.), of 6, Queen’s Gate Place, London, S.W.7

Parents

William J Fleming (1848-1901) & Annie C Walls (1850-1899)

Father's Occupation

Doctor and surgeon

Spouse

William D H (1879-1951), John G (1880-1936), Geoffrey B (1882-1952)

Education

Rugby School 1898-1901
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich 1901-

Occupation

Regular soldier

1891 Census

Bath Street, Glasgow

1901 Census

11 Hillmorton Road, Rugby, Warwickshire

1911 Census

India
14 Lancaster Gate Terrace, London; 6 Queens Gate Place, London

Home Address

14 Lancaster Gate Terrace, London; 6 Queens Gate Place, London

Glasgow NecropolisCompartment Sigma Lair 127
Other Memorials

Scottish National War Memorial – not listed
Rugby School Memorial Chapel
Wickford, Essex Cricket Club

Other Information

Fleming left personal estate in the United Kingdom to the value of £62664.

Acknowledgements and Sources

Much of the information on which this profile is based is drawn from various internet sources which are listed below.  The Friends of Glasgow Necropolis also wish to make full acknowledgement and thanks for the permitted use of any information or images generously supplied specifically for exhibition, publication or display in connection with The Roll of Honour and accompanying profiles to Rugby School, Ancestry, and Find my past.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Family Search

Scotlands People

The Long, Long Trail

The Scottish War Memorials Project

4 Brigade Royal Horse Artillery, War Diary October 1914 – June 1919. (TNA WO 95/1146/1)

45 Brigade Royal Field Artillery, War Diary October 1914 – April 1919. (TNA WO 95/1694/2)

121 Brigade Royal Field Artillery, War Diary December 1915 – April 1919. (TNA WO 95/2546/3)

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Credits

Compiled by Morag Fyfe, Historical and Genealogical Researcher for The Friends of Glasgow Necropolis.

 
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