LEDBETTER Ernest Frederick

Appears on the memorial under Soldiers 1918 with the information:: Pte. Nov. 11

Ernest Ledbetter was born in Blockley on 26th October 1887. He was baptised Ernest Frederick Penson Ledbetter on 31st August 1890 in Blockley Church, his mother was Lavinia Ledbetter, spinster. His third name Penson may be a clue to the father (there was a family of that name in Blockley at the time). Lavinia married a stonemason, John Readman, in 1889. He was at home in the village in 1891 and 1901, a schoolboy on the first date, a grocer’s apprentice on the second. On 30th April 1908 Ernest, aged 21, sailed from Liverpool to Quebec, Canada on the SS Kensington (Dominion Line), his occupation was shown as a miner. He sailed back to England in 1912, returning to Canada in 1913, this time accompanied by his half brother George Readman, and Harold Payne, both from Blockley and both emigrating to work as farm labourers. Ernest and George were bound for Brandon in Manitoba and Harold Payne for Calgary in Alberta. George enlisted in the Canadian forces and he too lost his life in France.

The following information has been taken from Wikipedia:
The 27th Battalion (City of Winnipeg was an infantry battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War. The Battalion was authorized on 7th November 1914 and it recruited in Brandon, Portage la Prairie and Winnipeg, Manitoba and Kenora and Rainy River, Ontario. The men were mobilized at Winnipeg and embarked for Great Britain on 17th May 1915. They disembarked in France on 18th September 1915, where they fought as part of the 6th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadian Division in France and Flanders until the end of the war. The battalion was disbanded on 15th September 1920.

The following information has been researched and transcribed by Sandra Taylor:
Ernest Frederick Ledbetter enlisted in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force on 1st April 1916 at Birtle, Manitoba, Canada. On his attestation paper he gave his present address as Birtle, Manitoba, his place of birth as Blockley, Worcestershire, England, his date of birth as 26th October 1887, his occupation as a farmer and his next of kin as his mother, Lavinia Reddman of Blockley, England. Ernest was 5 feet 5½ inches tall with a fair complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair.

National Archives of Canada Reference: RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 5515 – 27

The Canada Commonwealth War Graves Registers record the following information on Private Ernest Ledbetter:
Died of wounds (GSW L. Foot) at Alder Hey Military Hospital, West Derby, Liverpool on 12th November 1918. Cause of death now ascertained to be Angina Pectoris. Buried in Blockley cemetery, Blockley, Worcestershire. Next of kin: Mrs Lavinia Readman, Station Road, Blockley, Worcestershire, England.

Cap badge, 27th Battalion