Current Information:

Age-29

3A, Brondesbury Road, Kilburn

During the first week of December, 1916,  33rd Division moved south and relieved the French in the Rancourt-Bouchavesnes sector of the Somme battlefield opposite St Pierre Vaast Wood. The conditions here were awful. A very wet autumn had created a sea of mud and among the men of 1st Royal West Surrey (Queens), of 100 Brigade, there were many cases of “trench foot”, a condition that if not treated could lead to gangrene and even amputation. Whale oil, liberally applied to the feet was the answer but when you are standing knee deep in mud this is not always practical.

On 9th December, 1916, 1st Queens went into the front line there, relieving a French battalion. Here they remained in the rain for three days of misery. The Battalion Diary recorded that one man was killed during this period when a shelter collapsed on him and it could well have been Ernest Aarons during the relief of 1st Queens on the night of 11th-12th December.