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Ernest Howard Frederick Brown Krause (1891-1922)


Officer with 10th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, wounded several times


Ernest Krause was born in Vienna, Austria on 8 October 1891. His parents were Ernst Howard Krause (1861-1923) and Bessie Stearns Brown (1868-1939). On the 1901 census, the family were living in North Islington, London. His father is described as a Superintendent of a life assurance company, born in Tottenham, London, but an American citizen. On Ernest’s Record of Service [DCRO D/DLI 1/10/1(65)] from March 1919, contact for his father is given as New York Life Insurance Company, Trafalgar Square, London. Ernest’s mother, Bessie, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, his younger brother, Rudolph, and a younger sister, Elsbeth were also born in the United States of America. The 1911 census shows Ernest at Jesus College, Cambridge, he is described as Austrian. In October 1914, he was granted British naturalisation (this certificate also gives his date of birth as 1892).

Krause was an experienced traveller as age 7 he is on the manifest of the ship ‘New England’, part of the Dominion Line. On this occasion, he was travelling with his mother and sister from Boston, Massachusetts to Liverpool, England. In February 1911, he was a first class passenger on the ‘Lusitania’ of the Cunard Line, from New York to Liverpool.

Ernest’s education took place in England. He attended Durlston Court preparatory school, Swanage, and Sherborne School, Dorset, before taking up a place at Jesus College, Cambridge. He was in the Officer Training Corps (OTC) at both Sherborne and Cambridge. Ernest attended Sherborne School (Harper House) from September 1905 to July 1911. One of the addresses given on a Sherborne School OTC form is that of Kurfurstendamm, Berlin, possibly relating to his father’s work. Ernest’s school record indicates the following:-
Previous illnesses – measles and whooping cough.
1907 – member of the Harper House XV [rugby] (forward); member of Harper House XI [cricket]; second in the running dive junior swimming competition.
1908 – still a member of Harper House XV & XI; reached the final of the 9 stone boxing competition.
1909 – still a member of Harper House XV & XI; won medal in the Life Saving Competition for the Royal Humane Society.
1910 – member of Harper House XV (three-quarter); member of the house XI; member of the school second XV team; second in the 50 yards in clothes swimming competition; obtained OTC ‘Certificate A’.
1911 – member of the house XV. At the Musical Society end of summer term concert he was one of five boys who performed a solo of Auld Lang Syne. He became a Sergeant in the school Combined Cadet Force.
Head of Harper House during his final year.
1920 – EH Krause donated £1 towards the Westcott Memorial Window fund.

The Jesus College Archives at Cambridge have the following information about Ernest: “He matriculated, that is formally enrolled in the University, on 24 October 1911, having been admitted to Jesus College. He studied for the Ordinary degree, that is without honours, in Law, sitting the Special examination in Easter 1912 and earning a second class pass. Thereafter, we have no records of him sitting any further examinations and he does not appear to have graduated” [Source: UA Graduati 32/22]. He held the rank of private in the Officer Training Corps.

Ernest Krause’s naturalisation certificate gives his employments as banker, as the certificate is dated October 1914, it suggests this was his work after leaving university. It was also in October 1914 that Krause applied for a temporary commission with the British Army, stating that his preferred unit would be 16th (Reserve) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry (DLI). On 11 November 1914, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the first new Kitchener battalion of the DLI, 10th Battalion, under Colonel HHS Morant.

On 21 January 1916, Krause was wounded at Ypres, Belgium. The medical records describe the wounds as severe – a bullet entered above his left shoulder, penetrated the left lung, and finished near the left kidney. After treatment in Britain, he was given seven months medical leave, and was expected to be fit to return to light duties on 28 July 1916.

In September of 1916, Ernest was considered fit light duties without route marching, and joined the 1st Training Reserve Battalion [formerly 16th Battalion DLI] at Rugely. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 8 September.

Classed as B3 fit, on 26 January 1917, Krause embarked for Egypt, attached to 21st (General) Battalion of the Rifle Brigade. From April to November of 1917, he was stationed at a prisoner of war camp at Maadi, Egypt, then moved to Kantara until March 1918. During this time, he attended a Medical board in Cairo, where his injuries were thought to be permanent to an extent, but that he was now performing military duties.

By 24 July 1918, Ernest Krause had returned to France and on this day he joined 2nd Battalion DLI, stationed near Ypres. On 18 September, he sustained further wounds in an attack near St Quentin. He received injuries to his middle and upper right thigh, and right forearm. He was again returned to Britain. A medical Board on 13 December 1918 found one wound still unhealed, and that Krause was disabled, though not permanently. Ernest was declared fit for General Service in three months, and Home Service in two months. On 3 April 1919, he was demobilised form the army at No. 1 Dispersal Unit, Paisley.

After the First World War Ernest worked for the Ford Motor Company (Burma) Ltd. He married Moira Helen Stout on 2 November 1921 at the Scots Church, Rangoon. He died in Rangoon on 23 June 1922 of a duodenal ulcer. He was buried on 23 June 1922 at the Scottish Burial Ground, Cantonment Cemetery, Rangoon.

This information was derived from the officers service records, held at The National Archives, Kew, London: WO 339/19168
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1073089

Other sources:
Sherborne School http://oldshirburnian.org.uk/school-archives/
Jesus College Archive, Cambridge https://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/college/life-jesus/college-archives
Census and immigration records, Ancestry
War diaries of 2nd and 10th Battalions, Durham Light Infantry, The National Archives, WO 95/1617/1, WO 95/1907/1-6

Birth date: 8-Oct-1891

Death date: 23-Jun-1922

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: North Islington, London, (1901 census)
Boarding school and university
Branham Gardens, London (1914, permanent address, officer’s records)
St James Terrace, Glasgow (1914 correspondence address, crossed out, officer’s record)
Huntly Gardens, Glasgow (1919, officer’s records)
Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar)

Education: Durlston Court preparatory school, Swanage
Sherborne School, Dorset
Jesus College, Cambridge (law, did not graduate)

Religion: Church of England

Organisation membership: 27-Nov-1919 Rangoon Freemason Association, merchant member

Employment: Banker (Naturalisation certificate, 1914)
Ford Motor Company (Burma) Ltd

Family: Father: Ernst Howard Krause
Mother: Bessie Stearns Brown
Brother: Rudolph
Sister: Elsbeth

Wife: Moira Helen Stout

Military service:

Combined Cadet Force, Sherborne School
Officer Training Corps, Sherborne School and Cambridge University
11-Nov-1914 Commissioned as Second Lieutenant, 10th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry
Nov-1915 43rd Brigade bombing and engineering courses
21-Jan-1916 Wounded in left lung
1-Sep-1916 Joined 1st Training Reserve Battalion at Rugely
8-Sep-1916 Promoted to Lieutenant
26-Jan-1917 to Egypt, attached to Rifle Brigade
1-Apr-1917 to 1-Nov-1917 POW guard, Maadi, Egypt,
1-Nov-1917 to 1-Mar-1918 POW guard, Kantara, Egypt,
24-Jul-1918 joined 2nd Battalion, Durham Light Infantry in near Ypres
18-Sep-1918 Wounded in right leg and right arm
3-Apr-1919 Demobilised, Paisley

Medal(s): 1915 Star
Victory Medal
British War Medal

Gender: Male

Contributed by Norma (Durham at War volunteer)