At the heart of Mansfield Woodhouse, among the red-bricked rows and quiet lanes, lived the Antcliffe family – ordinary people whose story, like so many others, was shaped by extraordinary times.
Ernest Antcliffe was born in 1885, the youngest of four children. His father, Herbert, hailed from Edwinstowe, born in 1857, while his mother, Mary (née Jennings), came from Mansfield Woodhouse, the daughter of Samuel Jennings, a farm bailiff who once worked the fields at Sunnydale, Park Farm House.
In the 1890s, the Antcliffes were living at 35 Station Street. On the night of the 1891 census, three of the children – Richard (12), William (7), and Ernest (5) – were tucked up at home. Their sister Janie was away visiting friends, a small detail that meant she didn’t make it onto the census record. Just a trace of everyday life, now part of history.
By 1911, the family had moved just a few doors down to number 16 Station Street – Dial House, as it was known. The building was shared with another household, a common arrangement in those days. All four Antcliffe children were still living under the same roof. Like many young men of the time, Ernest and his brother William had gone to work underground, employed as motor drivers at one of the local coal pits that powered the nation.
But life was changing. War was looming.
When the First World War broke out, Ernest enlisted at the Mansfield recruiting office. He joined the Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment), a unit made up largely of local men from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. He was given the service number 92725. Later, he transferred to the 61st Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps – a deadly role at the front lines – and was assigned a new number, 124590. Under the command of Captain W. Napier, Ernest fought in some of the war’s fiercest battles – Fayet, Beauvois, St. Quentin, and Ranstart.
On 21st March 1918, during the German Spring Offensive, Ernest was reported missing in action. It would be a whole year before news of his death was confirmed. He was just 22 years old.
Like so many young men lost in the chaos of war, Ernest has no known grave. His name lives on in remembrance – etched into the Pozieres Memorial on the Somme, France, and closer to home, on the war memorial in Yeoman Hill Park, Mansfield Woodhouse.
In May 1919, the Mansfield Reporter published a simple but heartbreaking notice:
In memoriam
16th May 1919 – Antcliffe. Missing, March 21st 1918, now officially reported died the same date. Private Ernest Antcliffe, Machine Gun Corps, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Antcliffe, Sun Dial House, Mansfield Woodhouse.
