b. ? 1890 Haverton Hill, Durham. d. 4th Q 1925 Leeds, Yorkshire.
DATE OF EM ACTION: 10/08/1912 Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire.
Ernest was the second of five children born to John and Rachael Thackeray, in 1890, in Haverton Hill, near Stockton, Durham. His father who was originally from Yorkshire was an engine fitter, and had moved to Billingham, Haverton Hill for employment. It was there that he met and married Ernest’s mother, who was a Durham native. Ernest lived at home with his parents until his early 20s, and had become a blacksmith striker. By the time of the 1911 Census, they had moved to Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire, where John and Ernest were working for Frodingham Iron & Steel Company. In 1917, Ernest married May Parkin in Glanford, near Brigg, Lincolnshire. Little is known about the next part of his life, though he and May did move to Yorkshire, and sadly Ernest died in Leeds, aged just 35 in 1925.
EM CITATION:
A workman named Lightowler, employed by the Frodingham Iron & Steel Co. Ltd., was overcome by gas in a manhole at the company’s blast furnace at Scunthorpe [Lincolnshire]. After several ineffectual attempts had been made to rescue the unfortunate man, Thackeray, a fellow workman, volunteered, and, tying a handkerchief over his mouth, entered the manhole and succeeded in raising Lightowler sufficiently for other workmen outside to get him out, but it was too late to restore him. Thackeray himself was overcome by the gas and did not recover entire consciousness until the following morning.
BURIAL LOCATION: UNKNOWN.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: PRIVATELY HELD. SOLD AT DNW IN 2011 FOR £1,000.
Acknowledgement:
Dix Noonan Webb – Image of the Ernest Thackeray’s Edward Medal.