7th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
Very little detailed information on Private Lootes’ military service appears to have survived. His entry in the CWGC ‘Debt of Honour’ Register states that he served with the 7th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment but evidence suggests that he served with a different battalion.
Ernest Frank Lootes was born on 26 March 1886 at Moreton-in-Marsh and his father was Frederick Charles Lootes, a farm labourer (1856-1934). According to census returns he was born in Jamaica (as a British subject). His wife was Charlotte Ann (known as Annie) (1857-1927). The couple had ten children of whom only six survived up until the time of the 1911 Census, In 1901 the family lived at Bach Enos, Moreton-in-Marsh and Ernest, aged 15, was a farm labourer.
He was still a farm labourer when the 1911 Census was taken and the family now lived at West Square in the town.
No Army Service or Pension Record appears to have survived for Ernest. He does have a Medal Rolls Index Card, which shows entitlement to the Victory Medal but there is no mention of the 1914/15 Star, which indicated service commenced from 1916 onwards.
The actual Medal Roll states that upon discharge he was serving with the ‘4th Reserve Battalion’ of the Glosters. This battalion did not exist during the war so it may have been the 1/4th Territorial Force (TF) Battalion. Men serving with TF battalions ere re-numbered with six digit numbers on March 1917 and Ernest’s number, 204288, falls within the range applied to the 1/4th Battalion. If a man had served with more than one battalion of a regiment this is normally noted in the Medal Roll: no other battalion is noted for Private Lootes.
The 7th Glosters mainly served in Gallipoli (from May 1915 to January 1916); Egypt in January 1916 and hereafter in Mesopotamia until a transfer to the North Persian Force late in the war.
There is no evidence to suggest any service with the 7th Battalion and in the absence of any Service Record it is impossible to confirm this.
Private Ernest Frank Lootes died on 17 March 1919, aged 32 and according to the Register of Soldiers’ Effects he died at home, whilst on demobilisation furlough, from pneumonia. He was buried in the Moreton-in-Marsh Church Cemetery, where a standard CWGC headstone now marks his grave.
He is commemorated on the Moreton-in-Marsh War Memorial.
A recently released Pension Record Card indicates that two of Ernest’s brothers also served and both survived the war: George Edward with the London Regiment and Royal Fusiliers and William with the Glosters. When the CWGC register was compiled the Lootes family lived at Bourton Road, Moreton-in-Marsh.
Researched by Graham Adams 17 September 2020