16/08/2026
Remembering a Croft House Scout
Ernest Albert Brownhill MM (and Bar) 1893-1918
16th August 2026 marks the 108th anniversary of the death of Ernest Brownhill who was Scout Master of 1st Sheffield (Croft Hall) Scout Troop.
Ernest was clearly a very keen Scout. He completed the final tests and interview for the Silver Wolf award on 3rd February 1912 and received the award at the Sheffield District church parade at St Mary’s, Bramall Lane on 17th March 1912. At that time the Silver Wolf was the highest award for Scouting skills and commitment. It was awarded only to those King’s Scouts who had gained 24 proficiency badges and satisfied an examiner from Scout HQ. It seems evident he had been a Scout for several years in order to reach this standard. Perhaps he was one of the original Croft House Scouts when the troop was formed in November 1908. He is recorded as Scout Master in the 1912 Annual Report of the Sheffield Local Association of Boy Scouts when he would have been 19 years old. He officially remained the Scout Master until his death.
Born in Sheffield in June 1893 , living at 10 Crowther Place, Highfields, he was not only Scout Master at Croft House but also a part time soldier in 3rd West Riding Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps (Territorial Force) having enlisted in 1910. At the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914 he was a Lance Corporal. He went to France in April 1915 and was made Sergeant in October of that year.
Earnest was twice awarded the Military Medal, not for aggressive action but for saving lives.
As a stretcher bearer Sgt Brownhill was awarded the Military Medal for :
“Gallant conduct on 5 September 1916 in going several times from a sap in Thiepval Wood to collect casualties from No
Man’s Land who had been lying out for 36 hours”.
Again on 19 February 1917 the London Gazette announced the award of a bar to the Military Medal.
“For gallantry on the evening of 19 November 1916 in attending wounded men under heavy shell fire”
Brownhill was described by his Commanding Officer as “Exceptionally brilliant with a very good power of command, at his best when in charge of a party of bearers, working under fire”.
In response to congratulations sent from Croft House on the first award of the MM, Earnest sent the following reply on Dec 16 1916 from “Somewhere in France”
Dear Sirs,
Many thanks for your letter of congratulations I received a few days ago, and I was delighted when I read its contents. I am very glad I am able to bring honour to Croft Hall Scouts and furthermore I have again been awarded a bar to the medal for devotion to duty on 19th November.
So please excuse scrawl and pencil as I am writing this in an old barn which serves as our home.
I remain
Yours sincerely
E. A. Brownhill M.M
R.A.M.C. (T)
In late 1917 he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant to the Royal Flying Corps and gained his pilots wings in June 1918. On 16 August 1918, whilst flying with No 55 Squadron(now Royal Air Force) in a D.H 4bomber near Mannheim in Germany he was shot down by enemy fighters and died.
Ernest Brownhill had married Annie Lucy Tanner at St Barnabas Church, Sheffield on 23 December 1917 so, like so many other men of the time left a widow. Lucy appears to have remarried and moved to Long Eaton in Derbyshire
2nd Lt Ernest Albert Brownhill (MM &Bar) is buried in Niederzwehren Cemetery in Germany next to his observer 2nd Lt William Thomas Madge . His name is recorded on the memorial tablets in the Rover Memorial Room at the Sheffield City Scout HQ, Trippet Lane. The personal sentiment carved on his headstone at the behest of Annie reads : “Thy Will Be Done” .
We at Croft House are honoured to remember our gallant late Scout Master.
Information and pictures from : sheffieldscoutarchives.org.uk and chrishobbs.com https://www.cwgc.org/
The pictures show Earnest Brownhill in his Scout Master uniform with an unknown mascot and on his wedding day in RFC uniform
