LIEUTENANT ERIC BERTRAND RALPH SCOTT, 25TH DIVISIONAL SIGNALS COMPANY ROYAL ENGINEERS.


LIEUTENANT ERIC BERTRAND RALPH SCOTT, 25TH DIVISIONAL SIGNALS COMPANY ROYAL ENGINEERS. KILLED IN ACTION 10TH JULY 1916.




Eric Bertrand Ralph Scott was born in Ilkley on the 8th November 1894. His father, Ralph, was an engineer who lived with his wife Mary at 3, Tarn Villas on Cowpasture Road. Eric was a pupil at Dean Close School in Cheltenham where he was a member of the Officer Training Corps. In 1912, aged 18, he commenced further studies at the Royal School of Mines in South Kensington, now part of Imperial College. Significantly, Eric also joined the Territorial Army, enlisting as a sapper in the London Electrical Engineers. At the commencement of the war his unit was mobilised, however, his experience singled him out as officer material and he received a commission into the Royal Engineers on the 7th January 1915. Eric was posted to a Signals Company attached to the 25th Division in September of the same year. The Signals Company was responsible for laying and maintaining telephone and telegraph lines which allowed the Divisional Headquarters to communicate with the front line. This was often dangerous work as many repairs had to be done under enemy fire. On 10th July 1916 Eric's unit was in the front near to the village of Henencourt in the Somme Sector west of the town of Albert. Responsible for several units, Eric went out into no mans land to reach another battalion. Now in full view of the enemy Eric was shot and killed. His body was recovered a couple of days later and on the 12th July, the men of his section buried him in the nearby military cemetery at Warloy-Baillon. 2nd Lieutenant Eric Scott is also remembered on Ilkley's War Mamorial.

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