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Pte. Ernest Sykes VC.
British Army 27th Btn. (4th Tyneside Irish) Northumberland Fusiliers
from:Mossley, Yorkshire
Ernest Sykes was born in 1885, in Mossley, Yorkshire and died, in 1949, at Lockwood, Yorkshire. He originally enrolled in the Duke of Wellingtons Regiment (West Riding), 8th Battalion, service number 13425. He served in the Balkans campaign of 1915 where he received a serious foot injury. After recovering from his injury, he was assigned to the 27th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (4th Tyneside Irish), service number 40989, and embarked for France.
In April 1917, his Battalion was involved in the Battle of Arras where he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions. The citation for the award is: - On 9 April (Easter Monday) 1917, near Arras, France, the battalion in attack was held up by intense fire from front and flank, and suffered heavy casualties. Private Sykes, despite this heavy fire, went forward and brought back four wounded. He then made a fifth journey and remained out under conditions which appeared to be certain death, until he had bandaged all those too badly injured to be moved.
There is a plaque, in his honour, at Mossley Railway Station.
