Sergeant 5943, 20th Battalion Royal Fusiliers.
Killed in action 20th July 1916, age approx. 22.
Buried in Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, France.
Former student of mechanical engineering.
Ernest was born in 1894 at Lees, Oldham, the third son of Frank and Ada Williamson. He was educated at Hulme Grammar School (1903-1910). Aged 16, he entered Manchester University in 1910 as a Manchester Corporation Scholar to read for BSc. Technology Honours Division Mechanical Engineering. This he achieved in 1913, and then gained an MSc. Technology in 1914.
Ernest was a member of the Manchester University Officer Training Corps from October 1910 to August 1914, and enlisted in September 1914 into 20th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. He was killed during a battle at High Wood on the Somme on 20th July 1916. In 1919 Mrs. Williamson gave a prize for Science at Hulme Grammar School in memory of her son. The memorial was deemed “especially appropriate in the case of one who showed brilliant promise in Science as he did”.