Ernest Gleaves was born in Wolstanton between July and September 1881. He was married to Mary and in 1911 they lived at 84 Sparrow Terrace. Ernest was employed as a ‘Pottery Manager’. It appears they had no children.

Ernest is recorded in the pages of the ‘Potteries and District Scoutmasters Minute Book’ as Scoutmaster between 1912 and 1915, although sometimes as SM of 1st Wolstanton (it appears we may have suffered an identity crisis at the time).

The next we hear of Ernest is when the Scout Memorial Window was unveiled in St. Andrew’s Church in 1924. He was, according to the Sentinel newspaper, 1st Porthill’s first Scoutmaster (although we know this not to be true)! You can read more about the Memorial’s unveiling here.

We know nothing more about Ernest until his death on 1st January 1953. At that time, he and his wife were living at 25 King’s Avenue, Wolstanton and Ernest left £2656 5s 11d to Mary.