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Quorn WW1 Roll of Honour - Louis Brewin
Died 14th July 1917, aged 23
St Leger, the Somme, France
Before the war
Private Louis Brewin from the Leicestershire Regiment lived with his parents William and Francis Brewin and his sister Beatrice, at 11 Sarson Street, Quorn. There were just the two children and Louis was a year older than Beatrice. In April 1911 he was employed as a domestic gardener, but he later went to work for Wright’s factory in the village.
Prior to the outbreak of war, Louis was a Sunday School teacher and an original member of the Quorn Church Lads Brigade. He later joined the Soar Valley Company of the Territorial Army and as such he was immediately mobilised when the war started.
War service
In August 1916, he was wounded in the foot, having seen a considerable amount of active service. He recovered in a military hospital in Huddersfield and after a short time he was declared fit and sent back to the Western Front.
Quorn Parish Magazine in August 1917 reported that Louis had been killed by shell fire.
The Brewin’s small family was devastated at the loss of their only son. Two years later, the following appeared in the Loughborough Echo:
“BREWIN – In sweet loving memory of our dear son, Pte. Louis Brewin, 240243, 8th Leicesters, killed in action July 14th 1917.
Sleep on, dear son, thy labours o’er
Thy willing hands will toil no more;
For me and all you did your best,
May God grant you eternal rest.
From his broken hearted Mother, Father, and Sister”
The forgotten sweethearts
If a soldier was married, a wife is always acknowledged, but many of these young men would have been ‘courting’, and their fiancées and sweethearts are largely unrecorded. Theirs is a forgotten loss and pain, but it must have been felt by many. Louis Brewin was engaged to Ellen Ball (Nell), who lived just round the corner from him on Castledine Street, and also worked at Wright’s factory. She never married and continued at Wrights for all her working life.
Louis was not related to Walter Brewin, from Quorn, who was also a WW1 casualty.
Below:
1) Two rather grainy newspaper photographs of Louis
2) A modern picture of 11 Sarson Street (on the right with a white door), where Louis’s parents continued to live until they died in the 1930s.
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Submitted on: |
2020-01-13 |
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Submitted by: |
Sue Templeman with thanks to Dean Gale |
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Artefact ID: |
2330 |
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Print: |
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