George James Ewer was born in 1913 the son of Frederick George Ewer (1881-1964) and Elizabeth Kate Ewer née Howard (1881-1967). His birth was registered in the 2nd quarter of 1913 in the Willesden Registration District, Middlesex (now Greater London). On 13 July 1913 he was baptised in St Martin's Church, 132-4 Mortimer Road, London, NW10 where in the baptismal register his family were shown to living at 62 St Margaret's Road, Kensal Rise, Middlesex (now Greater London) and that his father was a gas stoker for the Gas, Light & Coke Company.
In September 1929 he was appointed as a postman messenger in the North West London Postal Service and was promoted in February 1932 to the grade of postman in the West London Postal Service. Electoral registers in 1935 list him and his parents at 105 Buchanan Gardens, Harlesden, Middlesex (now Greater London). He was promoted as a sorter in March 1936.
On 30 October 1938 he married Doris Ada Ridgley (b.1914) in All Saint's Church, St John's Wood, London, where in the marriage register he is shown as aged 25 years, a bachelor and a civil servant, living at 58 Acacia Road, London, NW8, the son of Frederick George Ewer, a gas engineer, whilst his wife was described as aged 24 years, a spinster and a debt clerk, also residing at 58 Acacia Road, the daughter of George Richard Ridgley, a business manager. They had a son, Michael G. Ewer born in 1941.
He joined the Royal Corps of Signals, service number 2327307 and was serving as a Signalman, attached to the Second Army Signals, when he died as a result of an accident, aged 31 years, on 9 May 1945. His body was originally buried in the Wintermoor Cemetery, Schneverdingen, Germany but in 1946 it was exhumed and he was reburied in Plot 6, Row D, Grave.7, in the Becklingen War Cemetery, Soltau, Heidekreis, Lower Saxony, Germany. This cemetery was chosen for its position on a hillside overlooking Luneburg Heath, where on 4 May 1945, Field-Marshal Montgomery accepted the German surrender from Admiral Doenitz.
Probate records show that his address was 61 Barons Court, London, N.W.9. Administration (with a will) was granted to his widow on 8 November 1945 and his effects totalled £662-5s-0d. Royal Mail Pension and Gratuity Records confirm that he was a sorter at the Western District Office and that his administratrix was, on 6 December 1945, sent his £274-12s-1d gratuity.
He is shown as 'EWER G.J.' on the Western Postal District war memorial in Mount Pleasant, London, WC1. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and on page 82 of the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance's Book of Remembrance (1939-1949).
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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