Private 55174 Stanley Ledwith was the second son of Bernard and Elizabeth Ledwith and was born at Brierley Hill in 1885. They lived at 8 Moor Street; there were 5 children – elder siblings Austin (Sapper 62361 Austin Ledwith), Gordon and sister Ethel and the youngest child James. Their father ran a grocery shop.

The family moved to Oswestry around 1890 living first at 32 Park Avenue and by 1901 on Roft Street. They would later move to live on Victoria Road. Their father Bernard, again, was running a grocery shop – on Church Street, he was also a Lieutenant in Oswestry Fire Brigade. Stanley was a chorister at St Oswald’s Church and was well known in the town. By 1911 he had moved to Reading where he was working in an ironmongers. He was living at 41 South Street. In January 1912 he married Daisy Phyllis Lyons; they would have daughter, Doris, born in 1913. They lived at 60 Radstock Road Reading.

He enlisted at Reading in April 1916, joining the Royal Field Artillery then transferring to 56 Coy Machine Gun Corps. The Coy arrived in France in July 1916. He was KIA 26 October 1917, aged 30, at Passchendaele during Third Ypres. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial and has no known grave. His brother Sapper Austin Ledwith died on active service on 31 July 1915 in the Dardanelles.  The two other brothers survived the war; Gordon served with RAMC Sanitary Unit and James with RFA. A memorial service was held for Stanley at St Oswald’s Church, Oswestry on 6 November 1917 where he is also remembered on the War Memorial.

Acknowledgements.

References and Sources

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