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Centenary of WWI: Ernest Powter Youngest Recruit

By August 28, 2014No Comments
Claude and Ernest Powter enlisted from Orange

Claude and Ernest Powter enlisted from Orange

 

Discover the story of the Powter brothers on our WWI Blog. Ernest Lachlan Powter was born in Orange on 9 March 1900, the second son of Jabez Langley Powter and Catherine Laurie Powter. In September 1915 Ernest was 15 years old and working as a junior clerk, when, claiming to be 18, he enlisted. Ernest is the youngest known recruit from Orange to enlist in WWI. Indeed, a fellow soldier described Ernest as “just a slight slip of a boy, with rather a girlish face.”