Ernest Patterson was born in Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, Ireland, in 1900. He was the oldest of six children to Robert and Matilda Patterson. Robert was a boot machinist when his son was born but, by the time of the 1911 census, he had turned his hand to farming.
When war came, Ernest stepped up to serve his King and Country and, in his eagerness to do so, he lied about his age. He enlisted in the Royal Irish Regiment on 1st September 1915, and stated that he was 19 years old. Given that his service records show that he was 5ft 8.5ins (1.64m) tall and that he weighed 130lbs (59kg), it is not surprising that the military were willing to take him on his word.
Private Patterson was initially posted to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion in Dublin. While there, he contracted German measles, and was hospitalised for two weeks. When he recovered, Ernest was moved to the 2nd Battalion, and shipped off to France with his new unit.
His time overseas was cut short, however, and he was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment on 9th March. He was noted as suffering from ‘debility’, and admitted to the Royal Surrey County Hospital for a week.
Out of hospital again, Ernest was re-assigned to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion. As summer came and went and winter moved in, his health wavered again. On 19th December 1916, he was admitted to the Bath War Hospital in Somerset, suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. He remained in hospital for the next three months, the condition finally leading to his medical discharge from the army on 29th March 1917.
Private Patterson’s discharge from the army did not mean a discharge from hospital, however, and he remained there for the next week or so. His health was deteriorating by this point, and his body finally succumbed to tuberculosis on 8th April 1917. He was just 17 years of age.
It was not practical to return Ernest Patterson’s body to his family in Ireland. Instead, he was laid to rest in Locksbrook Cemetery in Bath, not far from the hospital in which he had died.
Death and Service 