Leading Aircraftman Ernest Joseph Nicholls
| Date of Birth | 05/10/1896 |
|---|---|
| Age at Death | 22 |
| Date of Death | 19/9/1919 |
| Service Number | 404286 |
| Military Service | 31st Squadron Royal Air Force |
| Merton Address | 462 Kingston Road, Wimbledon |
| Local Memorial | Rutlish School, Merton |
Additional Information
Ernest Joseph, who was born in the last quarter of 1896 in Wandsworth, was the third child of Joseph Elias, a laundryman and Emma Kate Ford.
The 1901 census reveals that the family were living in Chatham in Kent and that 36 year old Joseph Elias was employed as a general labourer with his wife Emma Kate and three of their four children. Ernest Joseph does not appear on the 1901 Census
.
By the time of the 1911 Census, Ernest Joseph is living with his parents at 462 Kingston Road in Merton. His father Joseph Elias is now an employer laundryman. Joseph Elias and Mary Kate Ford have now been married for 20 years; the couple have four children who are all alive and well. The family appear to have moved around the south east of England during their 20 years of marriage according to the birth places of their children on the 1911 Census. The Census also reveals that the family employed Amy Annie Whitmore an 18 year old as a laundry-maid.
Royal Air Force service records are not available through Ancestry, all that is known about Ernest Joseph's service record is that he enlisted in the Royal Air Force to become a Leading Aircraftman and died in India at Risalfur, and that he is commemorated at the Karachi War memorial on the 19th September in 1919.