ERIC HORATIO BISHOP
Image from the Suffolk Chronicle and Mercury – February 1915
Born: 1898, Ipswich.
Died: 6th February 1915; age 17; died of Dysentery at No. 13 General Hospital, Boulogne.
Suffolk Chronicle and Mercury – Friday, 19th February 1915 – SIGNALLER ERIC HORATIO BISHOP – Eric Horatio Bishop, younger son of Mr. and Mrs. Bishop, of 55, Alan Road, Ipswich, who died on the 6th February in Boulogne Hospital. Eric, who was a private in the 4th Suffolks, had seen service in the trenches with his battalion and there contracted the illness which was to prove fatal. He was fully expected to recover, and had been sent from the Front with a view to returning him to England. The deceased’s brother is also serving with the Expeditionary Force.
Residence: 55, Alan Road, Ipswich.
Occupation: with Messrs. Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies, Orwell Works, Ipswich.
Enlistment Location: Ipswich.
Date of Entry Therein: 8th November 1914.
Rank: Private/Signaller; Service Number: 2016
Regiment: Suffolk Regiment, 1st/4th Battalion.
Medals Awarded: Victory, British War & 1914 Star.
Grave Reference:
III.B.89.
Boulogne Eastern Cemetery,
Pas de Calais,
France.
Relatives Notified & Address: Youngest son of William & Matilda Bishop, of 55, Alan Road, Ipswich.
CENSUS
1901 55, Alan Road, Ipswich.
Eric was 3 years old and living with his parents & brothers.
William Bishop, 33, a Boilermaker, born Ipswich.
Matilda Emily Bishop (nee Graystone), 33, born Chelmondiston, Suffolk.
Stanley William George Bishop, 12, born Ipswich.
Albert Victor Bishop, 6, born Ipswich.
1911 55, Alan Road, Ipswich.
Eric was 13 years old, an Office Lad. He was living with his parents & siblings.
William, 43, a Riveter.
Matilda, 43.
Stanley, 22, an Engineer.
Victor, 16, an Apprentice Engineer.
Ruby Vera Narcissus Bishop, 3, born Ipswich.
Soldiers’ Effects to William Bishop – father.
Eric is also remembered on the Orwell Works Memorial, Ransomes Sims & Jefferies, Ipswich, and at Holy Trinity Church, Ipswich, and St. Bartholomew’s Church, Ipswich.
A letter from Eric’s brother, Albert Victor Bishop:
Suffolk Chronicle and Mercury – Friday, 26th March 1915 – Signaller Victor Bishop, of the 4th Suffolks attached to a signal company of the Lahore Division, in a letter to his father, Mr. William Bishop, of 55, Alan Road, Ipswich, describes the fighting on the 11th March and following days as awful. In making their way to the trenches, they had to advance about half a mile under shell fire, doubling with heads between the knees, with a Maxim gun at work. The building they reached was struck by a shell, and the side was blown in. “I pitched forward, and the next minute there was a scrambling heap of fellows trying to reach the door amid falling bricks and rafters.” He managed to scramble to his feet, with his mouth and hair filled with dirt and brickdust, and somebody’s rifle slung round his neck. “Thank goodness. I’m safe,” he adds, and at the close of his letter is a drawing of a beer-bottle marked “Cobbold’s,” with the words “Beyond the dreams of avarice.”
Suffolk Regiment, 1st/4th Battalion:
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