109 years after his death on the Bluff in the Ypres Salient, Belgium, the final resting place of Old Shirburnian Captain Ernest Blencowe (1881-1916) of the Dorsetshire Regiment has been identified. A rededication ceremony will be held at his grave in Bedford House cemetery, Belgium, on 11 June 2025.
The location of Captain Blencowe’s body was previously unknown and his name, together with more than 54,000 other British and Commonwealth soldiers killed in the Ypres Salient during the First World War whose bodies were never recovered, is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial. The Menin Gate was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield, who also designed Sherborne School’s First World War memorial and ante-chapel, on the walls of which are named the 221 Old Shirburnians who lost their lives in the First World War.
However, recent research in the regimental war diary of the 6th Battalion Dorset Regiment has revealed that a grave in Bedford House cemetery which until now was marked with a headstone to an ‘AN OFFICER OF THE GREAT WAR DORSETSHIRE REGIMENT’ is in fact the burial place of Captain Blencowe, and a new headstone is to be erected bearing his name and the following inscription:
LOVING HUSBAND AND FATHER
OLD SHIRBURNIAN
“A MOST CHEERFUL COMPANY COMMANDER”
Who was Captain Ernest Blencowe?
Born Ernest Cecil Blencowe Gottwaltz on 10 March 1881 at 11, Ashbourne Road, Derby, Ernest was son of Ernest Gottwaltz (1856-1908), a soap manufacturer and later director of a wine and spirit merchants and brewery, and Sarah Harriet Ellen Gottwaltz (née Smee) (1854-1882). Shortly after Ernest’s birth the family moved to Bideford, North Devon, where Sarah died from TB on 19 September 1882, when Ernest was just 1 ½ years old. Ernest’s father remarried in 1894 and a younger brother Francis Porten Gottwaltz (1895-1978) was born the following year.
Ernest attended Saugeen Prep School in Bournemouth, and in May 1896 followed in the footsteps of his uncle the Rev. Henry Blencowe Gottwaltz (1869-1939) and joined The Green at Sherborne School under housemaster T.W. Wilson. During his time at Sherborne Ernest played cricket and rugby for his house, and in 1898 was made a Lance-Corporal in the School Cadet Corps. Academically, he didn’t progress beyond H.R. King‘s Upper Fourth Form (IVA) and when he left Sherborne in August 1899 he was bottom of the form.
After spending some time in Canada, Ernest returned to Devon where on 1 March 1910 he was married to Ellen Mary Blanche Edwards (1875-1958). The wedding attracted a lot of attention and even received the following write-up in the Gentlewoman newspaper (9 April 1910):
‘A very pretty wedding, and one in which much interest was taken locally, was celebrated recently at the parish church, Dolton, North Devon, between Mr Ernest Cecil Blencowe Gottwaltz, eldest son of the late Mr Ernest Gottwaltz, of Culworth, Bideford, and Miss Ellen Mary Blanche Edwards, eldest daughter of the Rev. N.W. Edwards (late vicar of Dowland). The ceremony was performed by the Rev. N.W.A. Edwards (brother of the bride), assisted by the Rev. T. Pattison (rector of Dolton), and the bride was given away by her father. Her dress was of white satin, with raised satin trimmings and pearl and silver embroidery, and she wore a tulle veil and a wreath of orange blossom, and carried a bouquet of lilies of the valley, white heather and carnations. The bridesmaids were Miss Gertrude Edwards (sister of the bride), Miss Roylands-Chanter (cousin), Miss Akeroyd, and two small nieces of the bride, the Misses Evelyn and May Edwards. Their dresses were of soft ivory silk with lace and touches of shell pink. In place of hats they wore pink veils and wreaths of silver leaves. The elder bridesmaids carried bouquets of pink carnations, and the children white shepherd’s crooks, adorned with bunches of carnations and pink ribbon. The bridegroom gave the three chief bridesmaids pearl and peridot pendants, and the children pearl initial brooches. Mr Nelson Bazeley of Bideford acted as best man. The church was decorated with palms and lilies, and the service was fully choral. After the ceremony a reception was held at ‘Hilliers,’ and later in the afternoon the bride and bridegroom left in a motor for Torquay. The bride’s going-away dress was of Saxe blue Shantung with blue and silver trimming, with which she wore a large hat of the same colour, trimmed with silver and grey ostrich feathers, and a full length fur coat.’
Ernest and Ellen’s daughter Eileen Winifred Blanche Gottwaltz was born on 1 December 1912 at Freelands, Higher Broadway, Withycombe Raleigh, Exmouth, Devon. On Eileen’s birth certificate Ernest gave his occupation as ‘Land Agent’. Ernest and Ellen’s happy family life was, however, short-lived. On 4 August 1914 Britain declared war on Germany and Ernest did his duty and joined up. It was around this time that Ernest changed his surname from Gottwaltz to Blencowe, presumably because it sounded less Germanic. On finishing his officer training course on 14 September 1914 Ernest was posted to the 6th Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment, attached to the 17th (Northern) Division, with whom on 13 July 1915 he was posted to France and landed at Boulogne on 14 July.
In February 1916 the 17th (Northern) Division was sent to the Ypres Salient to recapture the Bluff where, on 16 February 1916, ‘A’ Company (commanded by Captain Blencowe) and ‘C’ Company (commanded by Major Hughes) spearheaded an attack on a German position known as Crater Trench. The Germans were, however, more entrenched than was first thought and as Captain Blencowe and A company advanced towards the crater a machine gun position opened up on them and Captain Blencowe was shot through the chest and killed. The attack that day resulted in the deaths of two officers, one of whom was Captain Blencowe, with seven wounded and 131 other other ranks killed, wounded or missing. It took until 1 March 1916 for British forces to recapture the Bluff. Research has now revealed that the bodies of those killed in the attack were originally buried in a mass grave near the Bluff, but in the 1920s were moved to Bedford House Cemetery.
Under the headline ‘ANOTHER OLD SHIRBURNIAN KILLED’, the Western Gazette (3 March 1916) reported Captain Blencowe’s death:
‘Captain E.C.B. Blencowe, 6th Dorset Regiment, who was killed of February 16th, was the eldest son of the late Ernest Gottwaltz, of Culworth, Bideford. He was educated at Sherborne School, and received his commission in September 1914, being promoted captain a few months later. He was a keen sportsman and well-known in otter-hunting circles, being a member of the Culmstock O.H. Captain Blencowe married in 1910, Ellen Mary Blanche, eldest daughter of the Rev. N.W. Edwards, of Budleigh Salterton.’
On 16 June 1916, Captain Blencowe was Mentioned in Despatches for ‘gallant and distinguished conduct in the field’ by General Sir Douglas Haig, G.C.B, Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in France.
In Devon and Dorset where he grew up and spent the few years of his married life, Captain Blencowe is commemorated on the Budleigh Salterton War Memorial and at St Peter’s church, Budleigh Salterton. He is also remembered at Sherborne School on The Green roll of honour and in the First World War Book of Remembrance. In 1918, the Rev. Henry Blencowe Gottwaltz donated £5 to Sherborne School’s War Memorial Fund in memory of his nephew, and so it is fitting that Ernest’s name is also amongst those inscribed on the walls of the School’s War Memorial staircase.
On 11 June 2025, the date of the rededication ceremony at Captain Blencowe’s grave in Bedford House cemetery, the Book of Remembrance at Sherborne School will be open on Captain Ernest Blencowe’s entry.
See also:
- MOD War Detectives
- Captain E. Blencowe – Dorsetshire Regiment by Callum Murray (Battlefield History website)
- The Last Letter Home: A Tribute to Captain Ernest Blencowe by Quentin Drummond Anderson (d 81)
Visit Sherborne School Archive News for more stories from the archives.
Posted 6 June 2025 by Sherborne School Archives