First World War soldier from Langford honoured in new film - after medals found for sale on eBay

But The Final Days of Ernest Larman came about by chance after Langford Parish Council chairman John Shipman spotted an eBay listing for two medals that had been posthumously awarded to Ernest.

And filmmaker Theo Maximilian Goble – who was behind the Langford Tales documentary – leapt into action.

The 49-year-old, who lives in the village, said: “I immediately put in a high bid! Initially I wanted nothing more than to bring them back to Langford, at that point I wasn’t thinking about making a film.

“When I got my hands on the medals, I spoke with my good friend Linda Franklin. We had worked closely together on Langford Tales, she had helped with the archive and we did a lot of research together. Aside from my wife and kids, Linda was probably the only person who was involved in that project over the whole three-year period, so we have a very close bond."

Linda explained: “Originally we were just going to put a short piece of info on display with them for the locals to read. I just happened to put Ernest’s name into the computer and up came an article from the Chronicle of 1915 that described in full detail the last hours of this brave man, written by his fellow comrade from Sandy in a letter to his mother. What are the chances of that happening?

"It’s remarkable that such a personal account of what happened exists because mostly it’s all cold facts and figures from those WW1 stories.”

The letter had been written by Richard Eaton – and described in great detail the events leading up to Ernest Larman’s death.

Theo continued: “The letter along with the medals provided us with a wonderful opportunity, to make short film to honour Ernest, who up to this point, only existed as a name etched into the stone of our village memorial.”

But making the documentary was not without its challenges.

Theo said: “Everything would have to be done using archive, of which there was very little. There are no surviving photos of Ernest. We tried to find relatives but to no avail.”

The film features the voice of Langford resident Jacob Barnes – who also did narration work for Langford Tails – reading Richard’s letter. along with sound effects by audio mixer Alex Marcou to bring it to life.

Theo explained: “I wanted Alex to do the sound-design as if it were an audio book. He did an incredible job and his sound work provided the inspiration to create the images needed to complete the film.

“Creating the pictures was tricky. I didn’t want to try to recreate trench warfare in 1915 Belgium. I felt the pictures shouldn’t distract from the words of the letter and Alex’s wonderful sound-design. For me, the film is all about the sound of war accompanying the words that were once upon a time read by Ernest’s grieving parents.”

He added: “At times I felt like we needed more archive but kept reminding myself that so many names on the 100,000 war memorials across the UK are not so lucky.

“It felt like fate had brought Ernest’s medals our way. I’ve often wondered if the same hand of fate also had anything to do with Richard’s decision to write that letter 110 years ago? This project would not have happened had he not. We made this film for both Ernest and Richard.”

The Final Days of Ernest Larman has now been submitted to film festivals around the world and has already been accepted into festivals in Amsterdam, Sweden, Germany and London. It will also be shown closer to home – at the Bedford Independent Film Festival at the Quarry Theatre in Bedford, which runs from April 11 to 13.

Composer Mark Doggett has won ‘Best Score’ at the ‘Amsterdam New Cinema Film Festival’ and also Alex picked up the ‘Best Sound Design’ award at the ‘Paradise Film Festival’ in Cologne, Germany.

Once the festival run is over, the film will be available to view online.

Cllr John Shipman concluded: “The film has brought Langford history alive for all residents who wonder about the past, the folk who fought for freedom and for so many who gave their lives.”