Many years ago, I came across this memorial when it was on sale in a good but rather short-lived second-hand bookshop in Hereford. I don’t usually buy any form of memorial or medal or anything like it, but this looked a bit forlorn and I felt the need to rescue it. I stored it away flat, along with various other framed items that I have, and forgot all about it really. I have not touched it again until recently, when I just gave it a quick dusting and decided to find out more.
I always intended to discover who these men were and if possible determine how the memorial came to be in a second-hand bookshop. My assumption is that it was from an abandoned church, although it is also possible that it has never been displayed at all.
“Passed into higher service”
Three men are named: Ralph Leadbetter (Machine Gun Corps), Tom Pritchard (King’s Royal Rifles [sic]), and Ernest Spilsbury (Worcestershire Regiment).
Noting especially that the memorial also named a Walter Leadbetter and this surname is not a terribly common one, I began with these two men.
Ralph Leadbetter
The records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission show a match. Private 107381 Ralph Leadbetter, 60th Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) lost his life on 11 October 1918 and is buried at Ramleh War Cemetery in Palestine. He was aged 20 at the time. The register confirms him as the son of George and Frances Grace Leadbetter, of 81 New Street, Ledbury, Herefordshire. He is also named on the Ledbury town and parish war memorials.
“Soldiers Died in the Great War” incorrectly says that he died in Mesopotamia, but adds the valuable information that he had originally served as Private 236335 of the Gloucestershire Regiment. It also gives cause as “died”, which usually implies sickness. There is no trace of Ralph’s army service record, but a dependant’s pension record does match to his parents details.
The “Hereford Times” of Saturday 6 August 1910 mentioned a pupil of Ledbury Council School named as R. Leadbetter being given a prize for handwriting.
Tom Pritchard
I noted that the top list included a man named Arthur E. Pritchard, and that a Thomas G. Pritchard is named on the war memorials in Ledbury.
The records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission show a likely match. Rifleman A/202130 Thomas George Pritchard of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, attached to 2/12th Battalion of the London Regiment (The Rangers) died on 24 December 1917 at the age of 26. He has no known grave and is commemorated at the Tyne Cot Memorial. He was the husband of F. C. K. Pritchard, of 31 College Street, Worcester.
Marriage records show that this man wed Frances Charlotte Kate Halford at Ashleworth in Gloucestershire on 3 August 1914 and that he was a baker by trade. His father appeared on the registration as John Pritchard.
This enabled me to find him in the 1911 census, when he appears with his family (including father John and brother Arthur) at Newtown in Ledbury.
Ernest Spilsbury
“Soldiers Died in the Great War” lists a man of the right name and who enlisted in Ledbury, but he was serving as Private 44508 of the 1st Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry when he was killed on 12 July 1918. The regiment is of course different to that given on the memorial. It appears that many men numbered around 44508 came from Shropshire and had started with the KSLI, so it may be that Ernest had begin service with the Worcesters before transferring to the SLI. The records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission show that Ernest lies in Mont-Bernanchon British Cemetery and that he was the son of Frank and Annie Spilsbury of Felday Cottage, Malvern Wells. They added an inscription to his headstone: “Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory”. This is a quote from 1 Corinthians 15:57.
The others listed
Fred. Adams
I am still working on this man.
W. H. Bufton
His fairly unusual name points to this being Walter Hugh Bufton. The 1911 census gives him as being aged 11, the son of John Bufton of Bosbury. The village lies 3.5 miles north of Ledbury. He was listed in its electoral roll in 1919. Campaign medal records show that he served with the 4th King’s (Liverpool), 7th Suffolk and finally the 2nd Northamptonshire Regiment. His army service record cannot be traced.
Harold Croad
The electoral roll for Ledbury in 1919 has a man of this name at 40 Bye Street. This traces back to the same address in the 1911 census, when he is given by his full name of Harold Randell Croad. He has a record of service with the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force, revealing his qualification as an observer but offering no hint of his religion. Later records show him running Westwood Nurseries in Droitwich and that he attended a funeral in 1941 in connection with his work as a freemason. He married in 1923 at the parish church of Saint Andrew in Droitwich; that is, in a Church of England marriage.
Tom Dix
1897 came from Ross, became a policeman, was in Kington in 1919 and later lived in Bromyard
George Harris
I am still working on this man.
Edward Jones
I am still working on this man.
Walter Leadbetter
Walter survived and, like his brother above, cannot be traced to an existing army service record.
Maurice Roberts
Maurice proved to be a very difficult man to track down. There is no entry in any census or civil register to anyone of this name living in the Ledbury area, although there are others not too far away. No military service or pension record could be found that hinted it might refer to the man listed on the memorial. Local newspapers made no clear mention of him, either. He remains a case for deeper investigation.
Edward Williams
The memorial states that this man was a prisoner of war for two years. I searched the weekly War Office casualty lists at the British Newspaper Archive for any combination of the words Williams and Ledbury, and found a Private 27700 of the Border Regiment being repatriated home in 1919 after captivity. His service record shows that he lived at 32 Albert Street and initially served as Private 3024 of the Herefordshire Regiment. He was transferred to the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry and went to France on 1 October 1916. Ten days later he was transferred again this time to the Border Regiment and its 11th (Service) Battalion. He was taken as a POW on 18 November 1916. His record contains the vital information that he was of the Baptist faith.
Ledbury’s Baptist Chapel was built in 1836. It still exists and is used for its original purpose, but had to be extensively refurbished after a ceiling collapse in 2009. I am quite sure that I acquired the memorial before this, so its removal is something of a mystery.
Any information about this memorial would be welcome.