Stratton, Ernest Joseph

1871 Private Ernest Joseph Stratton - 11th Battalion AIF

Ernest Joseph Stratton was born at Mirboo North Victoria on the 9th September 1893 to Thomas and Eliza Stratton. He had several siblings and lived in Victoria up to 1912.

He then moved to Western Australia in 1913 where he worked as a sleeper hewer/cutter. He lived in both Fremantle and Lion Mill (Mt Helena) during this time. Prior to enlistment he was living in Silas Street East Fremantle.

On the 3rd March 1915 Ernest enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force. He was accepted as fit for service with the medical examiner recording his physical attributes as;

Height - 5 feet 4 & 3/4 inches tall;

Weight - 130lbs;

Chest Measurement - 33-35 inches;

Complexion - Fair;

Eyes - Grey;

Hair - Light Brown.

After his successful enlistment, Ernie was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp where he was assigned to the 4th Reinforcements to the 11th Battalion AIF. He did not have long in WA as on the 19th April 1915 Ernie and his group embarked from WA on the transport ship HMAT Argyllshire and set sail for Egypt. They disembarked at Suez on the 13th May 1915.

Ernie had several weeks in Egypt but then went to Gallipoli where he was taken on strength of the 11th Battalion on the 10th July 1915. Ten days later he was evacuated to hospital on Lemnos where he was diagnosed with a rheumatic heart/rheumatic fever.

Ernie was then evacuated to Malta where he was admitted to St George's Hospital. On the 17th September he returned to Egypt and returned to Gallipoli on the 2nd October 1915, being taken on strength of the 11th Battalion on the 13th October 1915.

When the Anzac battlefield was evacuated in December 1915, the 11th Battalion then returned to Egypt. From January to March 1916 they would then commence training in the Egyptian desert.

On the 29th March 1916 Ernie and the 11th Battalion left Egypt and proceeded to France, reaching Marseilles on the 5th April 1916. The men were then entrained north for the Armentieres sector. They would spend the next few months around Bois Greiner and Fleurbaix.

On May 30th 1916 the Germans launched a massive raid on the 11th Battalion positions with many men being killed, wounded or captured. Ernie was part of the stretcher bearing team who were evacuating casualties. He was later recommended for the Distinguished Conduct Medal due to his bravery but sadly no medal appears to have been awarded despite it being endorsed by the 11th Battalion CO and the 3rd Brigade Commander. However the recommendation reads;

For conspicuous gallantry. During an intense bombardment of the front line defences by the enemy he practically assumed command of the stretcher bearers and regardless of personal injury rescued and carried several wounded men to places of safety.

In July 1916 the 11th battalion headed for the Somme battlefield where they would take part in the capture of Pozieres village on July 23rd 1916. Casualties were heavy for the 11th Battalion and Ernie would have been kept busy with evacuating the wounded. However he soon was evacuated himself due to gas poisoning.

It was reported that he was back with the Base Depot on the 6th August 1916 but the date he rejoined the 11th Battalion is unknown.

In September 1916 the 11th Battalion moved to the Belgian front near Ypres. On the 16th September 1916 Ernie was captured by the Germans. It was stated that he had received shrapnel wounds in both legs and arms when he was captured. The strange thing is that Ernie was captured at the Armentieres front in France while his battalion was in Belgium.

After he was captured he was taken to hospital in Douai and after recovery was sent to Dulmen, then Friedrichsfeld and Minden.

Photo below from Australian War Memorial shows Ernie at Friedrichsfeld Camp in Germany. He is front row third left

Ernie would spend the next two years as a Prisoner of War of the Germans. When the Armistice was signed on 11th November 1918, the Prisoners of War began to be sent back to England. Ernie reached England on the 23rd November 1918. He reported to AIF Headquarters in London and then was given leave till the 28th December 1918.

During his month in England Ernest married Ada Oates on the 12th December 1918. Ada was from Portobello in Edinburgh where she had been working as a 20 year old Car Conductor.

They had a few weeks together as a married couple but Ernie then then reported into No.2 Command Depot Camp at Weymouth. It appears that in 1919 he was then given a period of indefinite leave. They then had to wait for a transport ship that would take the married couple home to Australia.

Ernie and Ada returned to Australia aboard the ship Mahana on the 25th September 1919, disembarking in Fremantle on the 3rd November 1919.

Ernie was medically examined at No.8 Australian General Hospital in South Terrace Fremantle. He was discharged from the AIF on the 26th February 1920.

It appears his marriage with Ada did not last long. One of Ernie's good mates was Leslie Peters who had died in a timber felling accident in 1921. After Leslie's death Ernie and Ethel Peters were reacquainted when Ethel returned to Fremantle from Nannup. It appears that Ernie left Ada and took up living with Ethel in South Fremantle. A divorce was granted to Ada when she applied to the Courts. It was even reported in the West Australian newspaper on the 25th March 1924 edition.

MARRIED IN SCOTLAND

NEGLECTED IN FREMANTLE.

DIVORCE GRANTED.

A buxom, rosy-cheeked young Scotch woman who married an Australian, soldier named Ernest Stratton in Scotland on December 12, 1918, was this morning granted a dissolution of her marriage by the Chief Justice (Sir Robert McMillan),

Through her counsel, Mr. J. P. Dwyer, she told her story of unfortunate experiences from the time that she and her husband came to Fremantle in 1919. He so cruelly treated her that she had him hauled before magistrates and was given a separation order. He did not support her after that. Evidence was given to the effect that Stratton lived at Beaconsfield with a woman named Mrs. Peters, who passed as his wife, and that this woman had given birth to a child of which the respondent

was the father. It was ordered that Stratton pay the costs.

In 1924 he officially married Ethel May Peters (nee Symonds). She had been married to Leslie Peters and they had a daughter Ethel in 1913, Isobel in 1915, Lillian in 1917 and Dorothy in 1920. When Leslie Peters died in 1921 and Ernest then married Ethel in Fremantle. They would have Victor in 1922, Doreen in 1924, Beryl in 1926, Pauline in 1928, Lennard in 1931 and Shirley in 1933.

They would live in both South Fremantle and East Fremantle over the next twenty years, at 293 Forrest St East Fremantle then moving to 126 Marmion St East Fremantle in 1931. At this time Ernie was working as a railway employee.

In 1936 they had moved to 3 Mandurah Rd South Fremantle; and the following year were at 7 Ada Street South Fremantle. In 1941 they were living at 7 Wardie Street, before finding a more long term residence at 21 Gold Street South Fremantle where they remained until 1960.

Ernie died in South Fremantle on the 7th November 1962 aged 70. He was buried at Fremantle Cemetery plot ANGLICAN MON A7 0008.