1896 Born
1901 census at 30, Whitworth Road, Alverstoke
1910 Dec 10. Enlisted in London as PO/15586 Bugler Ernest Williams, Portsmouth Division from Greenwich School aged 14
1911 census. A 15 year old boy bugler in Royal Marine Light Infantry, at Alverstone Barracks , Hants. Born Gosport
1911 Jun 19. 3rd Class School Certificate
1911 Sep 5. 2nd Class School Certificate
1913 Feb 21. transfer to Private rank
1913 Feb 27, Establishment List at Deal
1913 Apr 23. Musketry Course Class R
1913 May 17. Field Training Course
1913 Jun 2. Infantry Training Course
12 June 1913 Portsmouth Division
11 July 1913 Musketry Course 2nd Class
24 Oct 1913 Land Gunnery Course 78%
12 Nov 1913 Field Training Course
10 Dec 1913 embarked on HMS Liverpool part of the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron. At the beginning of the First World War, HMS Liverpool serving with the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron.
1914 Aug 28. Battle of Heligoland Bight after the German cruiser Mainz was heavily damaged and disabled, a rescue operation was subsequently undertaken. HMS Liverpool, accompanied by the destroyers Firedrake and Lurcher, manoeuvred close to the cruiser in an effort to recover the surviving crew. Small craft from HMS Liverpool were deployed to retrieve crewmembers who had abandoned ship. HMS Liverpool detached from the main force to transport 86 embarked prisoners to Rosyth, including a son of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz.
1914 Oct 27. HMS Audacious struck a mine during a morning exercise by the Grand Fleet off the coast of Ireland. Unsure of the circumstances of the incident, the Admiralty ordered the fleet to withdraw as a precaution while HMS Liverpool remained as an escort until it capsized and exploded
1915 HMS Liverpool was detached from the Grand Fleet and sent to patrol the coast of West Africa in a search for the armed merchant cruiser Kronprinz Wilhelm
1915 Jun. Liverpool 's mission was unsuccessful and the cruiser arrived at the port of Liverpool for boiler repairs
21 July 1915 Portsmouth Division
25 Aug 1915 Joined HMS Birkenhead assigned to the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet
18 Dec 1915 Awarded Good Conduct Badge
31 May to 1 June 1916, the Battle of Jutland.
4 Oct 1917 promoted to Corporal
6 Nov 1917 Portsmouth Division, Headquarters
1918 Apr 22. 4th RM Bn. at Zeebrugge . HMS Vindictive was to land a force of 200 Royal Marines at the entrance to the Bruges Canal to destroy German gun positions. At the time of the landing the wind changed and the smoke-screen to cover the ship was blown offshore. The marines immediately came under heavy fire and suffered many casualties. Vindictive was spotted by German gun positions and forced to land in the wrong location, resulting in the loss of the marines' heavy gun support
1918 Jun 10. Embarked HMS Kent. On convoy escort duties
1918 Jun. HMS Kent deployed to the China Station.
1919 Jan. British armoured cruiser 'Kent' arrives at Vladivostok in Siberia to support Allied forces in the Siberian Intervention during the Russian Civil War
7 April 1919 Landed at Vladivostok and served on a British armoured train and relieved by a detachment from HMS Suffolk. HMS Kent had been maintained at Vladivostok, and worked in co-operation with the British Military Mission supporting Admiral Koltchak. Naval guns were mounted on an armoured train which, was used with conspicuous success on the Ufa front. These guns were afterwards mounted in barges and steamers on the River Kama, being finally turned over to the Russians, and the British naval personnel being withdrawn.
22 June 1919 Joined HMS Carlisle on station in China
3 Sept 1919 Joined HMS Colombo on station in China
10 Nov 1919 Portsmouth Division
Nov 1919 Paid £30 War Gratuity
11 March 1920 Qualified for promotion
28 May 1920 Paid £15 Naval Prize Fund
1 June 1920 Embarked for Ireland, Home Based Ledger 8th Royal Marine Battalion
1921 May 17. Died from Wounds age 25
Kidnapped & killed in Ireland. Marines were stationed at Rosses Point at this period and one of these, Corporal Williams was shot dead at about 2 pm on Tuesday May 17th. He had been in Sligo for rations during the day and was returning on a side car when he was stopped by three armed and masked men, members of the local IRA. He was ordered off the car and taken about 100 yards down a side road towards the shore. His dead body was later found on the roadside with three bullet wounds to his head and chest. Considerable police activity followed the killing and the whole area was searched. At the end of the month the County Inspector said in his report that the killers were known to the police. (Sligo 1914-1921)
Buried Gosport Anns Hill Cemetery
2 June 1921 Court of Inquiry at Gosport
British soldiers died in Ireland