The war grave of Private Ernest Brew, 49th Battalion Canadian Infantry (Alberta Regiment), who died on 20 January 1917, aged 29, is located in Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension, Pas de Calais, France (Grave I, F33). Ernest, who was the son of William and Elizabeth Brew of 14 Brewery Lane, Egremont, Cumberland, England, was born on 6 January 1887 in Ponsonby, Cumberland.
Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension is located in Aubigny-en-Artois, just north of the N39 Arras to St. Pol road, ca. 15km west of Arras.
From March 1916 to the Armistice, Aubigny was held by Commonwealth troops and burials were made in the extension until September 1918. The 42nd Casualty Clearing Station buried in it during the whole period, the 30th in 1916 and 1917, the 24th and 1st Canadian in 1917 (during the capture of Vimy Ridge by the Canadian Corps) and the 57th in 1918. The extension now contains 2,771 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and seven from the Second World War. There are also 227 French and 64 German war graves.
Ernest Brew is the great uncle of Brian Brew of Chilliwack, BC, Canada. His grandfather, Ernest's brother William, also fought in the First World War, but served in the U.S. Army.
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© Photos taken by Steve Brew on 27 August 1999