27th Battalion (Manitoba), Canadian Infantry
Ernest Frederick Ledbetter was born at Blockley on 26 October 1887.
On 30 April 1908, at the age o f 20, he emigrated to Canada, eventually ending up in Birtle, Manitoba, where he found work as an agricultural labourer.
He enlisted into the Canadian Army at Birtle on 1 April 1916 and was initially posted to 226th Overseas Battalion.
He sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia on 15 December, on board the troopship RMS Olympic (a sister ship of the ill-fated Titanic) and arrived at Liverpool on 28 December.
He transferred with his unit to Bramshott Camp, on the Hampshire and Surrey border and on 1 February 1917 he was appointed an acting Lance Corporal. On 26 March he was posted to 14th (Reserve) Battalion.
On 31 May he reverted to the rank of Private, at his own request, prior to posting to France. He arrived in France on 1 June and joined the 27th (Manitoba) Battalion, sometimes known as ‘City of Winnipeg’, in the field on 7 June. It was part of 6th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadian Division.
Having spent the first two weeks of February 1918 on leave, he was awarded a Good Conduct Badge on 1 April.
On 27 August he suffered a gunshot wound to his left ankle, causing a fracture at the lower end of the fibula and tibia. This was probably in the Arras area, during the Battle of the Scarpe (26th to 30 August 1918) one of the actions in the late summer/early autumn attempts to break the
Hindenburg Line.
After an initial operation at No. 7 Casualty Clearing Station, he was sent to 55 General Hospital, Boulogne and on 31 August sent to England, on board the HS Cambria.
He was admitted to Alder Hey Military Hospital, West Derby, Liverpool (which specialised in the treatment of orthopaedic cases) on 1 September and on the 21st underwent an operation to remove pieces of bone still present in the wounded area. Evidently his wound had practically healed when he died , suddenly , on 12 November. The cause of death was discovered to be angina pectoris, a heart condition.
Following his death his remains were taken to his birthplace in Blockley, where he was buried in the churchyard, where a CWGC headstone now marks his grave.
His headstone also commemorates Ernest’s step-brother, 148484 Sergeant George Readman, also of the Canadian Army, who had joined him in Canada in 1913.
George had worked on a farm at Hayfield, Manitoba and enlisted into the Canadian Army at Winnipeg, Manitoba on 22 November 1915. He was posted to the 78th (Manitoba) Battalion, which was part of 12th Infantry Brigade, 4th Canadian Division. He died from a shrapnel wound to the back on 8 August 1918 and is buried at Caix British Cemetery, in the Somme region of France.