Individual's Report

Ernest William Doust was born on the 12th April 1921 at 12 Mile Road, Vauxhall, Lambeth, London. Ernest was the eldest child of Beatrice Barnes and Ernest Doust.

Ernest started his first job working for ICI in their building on the bank of the river Thames in London. He later followed his father onto the railways, joining Southern Railways he was based at nine elms.

He started on the railways as a fireman and later progressed to Engine driver.

He first met my grandmother, when she worked on the entrance to a dance hall in Brixton. They courted during the war years, whilst my Nan was based in Devon with the ATS. Ernest made frequent trips down to see her, and they married on April 1 st 1945, at St. Stephens Church, Lambeth, London.

After the wedding they moved into 2 Davidson Gardens, Lambeth, the home of Ernest’s parents. In June of 1946 their first child, my mother , was born. Having a baby, they managed to secure a flat on the ground floor of no. 47 Tradescant Rd, Lambeth, Which they moved into in 1947. During their time there they had their second child.

In 1953 the family moved two doors along, when they privately rented no 45 Tradescant Road, and a year later their third child was born. Their fourth child was born in no.45 in 1955.

The family moved again in 1964, when they moved to no.4 Davidson Gardens, Lambeth. Next door to Ernest’s parents.

Ernest was still a train driver, operating mostly on the Waterloo to Bournemouth line, before suffering a heart attack, which forced him to stop driving passenger trains.

Ernest became very active in his union and was also an instructor for St. Johns Ambulance, teaching many first aid classes.

In 1981 Ernest underwent a heart bypass operation in St. Thomas’s hospital London, further problems led to him having to have a leg amputated, just below the right knee.

Having retired from work, Ernie and my Nan decided to move out of London, and up to Suffolk.

Once again Ernest got involved with local volunteer groups and became a member of the local Victim Support Scheme.

Ernest died on January 9th 2005 in the West Suffolk hospital, Bury St. Edmunds, and was buried in the cemetery in Great Cornard, Suffolk.