Selected Biographies

Lever, Ernest Edward – Born: Sudbury, Suffolk on 2.10.1898.[1]  Parents: Harry Lever (Innkeeper) and Agnes Annie [née Buckle].  Family Connections: Brother to Frederick Lever [b1895].  Home: Plough Inn, Melford Road, Sudbury (1901), 35 Melford Road, Sudbury (1911) to [1918].  Service Record: Ernest enlisted as Tpr.170856 with the Sussex Yeomanry and was posted to the Western Front, transferring as Pte.237062 to 1/4^th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers as part of 118^th Brigade, 39^th Division.  His unit was heavily mauled during the Battle of the Lys in April 1918 with Private Lever being captured at Pontavert on 27.5.1918 and held as a Prisoner of War in Germany.[2]  Died: on 3.11.1918 in the camp hospital at Bad Langersalza in Germany from chronic colitis, is buried in Niederzwehern Cemetery [grave ref: VI.K.12], Kassel and commemorated on the War Memorial in Sudbury.[3]

Lever, Frederick – Born: Sudbury, Suffolk on 3.11.1895.[4]  Parents: Harry Lever (Innkeeper) and Agnes Annie [née Buckle].  Family Connections: Brother to Ernest Edward Lever [b1898].  Home: Plough Inn, Melford Road, Sudbury (1901), 35 Melford Road, Sudbury (1911), 100 Queens Road, Sudbury (1921), Park Terrace, Little St Marys, Long Melford (1939).  Occupation: Baker’s Assistant (1911), Flax Dresser for the East Anglian Flax Company (1921), Hot and Cold-Water Fitter (1939).  Married: Bertha Bugg in 1923.  Service Record: No definitive military record has been found to confirm his role during the First World War.  During the Second World War however Fred was a Sergeant with ‘H’ Company, 10^th Battalion, Suffolk Home Guard when it was formed in August 1942.  His name is recorded in the official tribute to the organization entitled The Lion Roared his Defiance, photographed in and around Long Melford in 1944.[5]  Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1964.

Notes – [1] National School Admissions Register St Peter’s Boys School 3.9.1906 [ref: ADB 520/2/1] and the 1939 Register.  [2] International Committee of the Red Cross Prisoner of War records [ref: PA.41113 and PA.41941], Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923 [ref: 11/Pp/60078], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329], and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [3] Commonwealth War Grave Commission record and British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 file [ref: 851836].  My thanks to Anna Hannah for sharing this photo via www.Ancestry.com.  [4] Baptism Register 29.12.1895 for St Peters Church, Sudbury, Suffolk and the 1939 Register.  [5] Published by Marten & Son, Ltd., of Market Hill, Sudbury, Suffolk in 1946.