People on board

BUTCHER, Ernest

Ernest Butcher was born in Cambridge in 1876 to William Butcher, a Tailor, and Hester Carter. Ernest was the second of nine children and the family lived at Newmarket Road in the city. In the 1891 census, at the age of fifteen, he was recorded as a Grocer’s Assistant. In 1897 Ernest married Annie Harriett Watts and the couple had three daughters, Florence, Violet and Doris. In the 1901 census they were living in New Street and his occupation was a Corn Merchant’s Assistant. By 1911 the family was living at 52 Fitzroy Street in Cambridge and Ernest gave his occupation as a General Labourer.

Ernest Butcher’s army file was destroyed, as recorded on a 1930s official card but some entries on indexes remain to give an idea of his war record. He enlisted on the 19th of October 1916, serving firstly with the Norfolk Regiment as a Private, No. 26920. He then served as a Rifleman, No. 41389 with the 9th and then 10th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles. His entry on the Roll of Individuals entitled to the ‘War Badge’ states that he served overseas, but there are no further details. He may have fought at Bourlon Wood in the battle for Cambrai in November 1917 where the 9th and 10th Battalions were involved.

Ernest Butcher, along with three Privates from the Royal Irish Rifles, were on board R.M.S. Leinster on the 10th October 1918 though it is unclear why they had been in Ireland or where they had been stationed. All four men survived the sinking but Ernest was subsequently declared “no longer physically fit for war service.

His discharge from the army was dated the 11th October 1918 and, on the 11th December, he submitted to the War Office that his original badge was lost on the Leinster. His address then was 7 South Street.
Ernest Butcher died on the 16th of August 1922 aged forty-seven and was buried in Mill Road cemetery in Cambridge. His widow Annie lived until 1963, dying at the age of eighty-six and was buried with Ernest in Mill Road.