Mr Ernest Cann ¹ was born in the early months of 1883 ² in Amble, St Kew, Cornwall, England and was baptised a year later on 27 February.

He was the son of William Cann (b. 1826), a farm labourer, and Sarah Jane Teague (b. 1846), both Cornish natives who had married in 1880. He had four known siblings: Mary Ann (b. 1878), Albert (b. 1881), Edward (b. 1884) and Frederick (b. 1898).

Ernest first appears on the 1891 census living at Tregilders (?) in St Kew. His father apparently died in 1899 aged 73 and the family moved to Gloucestershire, settling in Frampton Cotterell where Ernest's mother ran a boarding house. The family are listed here on the 1901 census and Ernest was described as a railway navvy. What became of Ernest's mother is unknown and by the time of the 1911 census he had returned to Cornwall and was boarding at Rosevear, Bugle, St Austell and was described as an unmarried clay miner.

On 4 November 1911 in Treverbyn Parish church, Ernest was married to Emma "Emmie" Johns (b. 1878), a dressmaker who hailed from St Stythians, Cornwall. They would have no children.

Mr Cann boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger along with his friend William Saundercock. They may have also been acquainted with William Nancarrow, another clay labourer from St Austell. Ernest's ticket (number 2152) cost £8, 1s but his destination in the USA is not known.

Ernest Cann died in the sinking, his body was not recovered.

His wife Emmie never remarried and continued to live in Cornwall. She lived less than two years following the death of her husband.