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Those Who Served
Pte. George Eaddie . Army Royal Army Medical Corps. My Great Uncle Pvt George Eaddie served in Egypt, Sulva Bay, Dardernelles & The Western Front with the RAMC. |
Pte. H. Eames . British Army 11th Btn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.1st Jul 1916) |
Pte. Arthur Edward Earl . British Army 2nd Btn, 'A' Company Norfolk Regiment from 104 Aylsham Road, Norwich My father, Arthur Earl, enlisted aged 18 with the Norfolks in 1915, serving with the 7th & 2nd Btns, in France until the end of the WW1 war. Being wounded by gunshot on two separate occasions and then went on to serve in Waziristan and Pakistan and was discharged in 1927.
He vary rarely mentioned the war to me, only saying that he served in the Indian region and how he played football against the locals, who did not wear boots and when the football bladder burst how they used to play on with the ball stuffed with straw. It is only this week that I have found out that he served in France, although he did say once that he used a machine gun during the war. Dad died at the age of 72 in 1969.
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Spr. Edward William Earl . Australian Imperial Forces 1st Coy. AustralianTunneling Corps from Geelong, Victoria, Australia (d.28th Jul 1917) |
Able Seaman. George Arthur East . Royal Navy My Great Grandfather George Arthur East joined the Royal Navy in 1914 when he was 14 years old (having lied about his age!). The story I have been told is that he was the first ever able bodied seaman to dive using a diving belt. He died some years ago and so did his wife. I cannot find any further information such as what ship he was on etc. I would love to find out anything at all and a photo would be good because I'm sure it would have been recorded at the time. |
Sjt. Jack East . British Army 2nd/10th Btn. Middlesex from Hillingdon, Middlesex (d.11th Feb 1918) Jack East was born John Henry East on 5 Nov 1888 son of Henry East and his wife Martha Irons. He was a regular who enlisted on 16 November 1906. In 1911 he was serving in India. He is described in his papers as 'a well educated steady man, clean & sober'.
He suffered several bouts of malaria from 1909.
He was wounded in action on 27 Dec 1917 and died 11 Feb 1918 in Palestine. He is buried in the Jerusalem War Cemetery. |
Sjt. R. Easton . Army 2/8th Btn. Durham Light Infantry |
Pte. Thomas James Easton . Australian Imperial Forces 33rd Btn. from South Bank, Yorks, England (d.9th Jun 1917) |
Capt. Frederick Arthur Jervis Eastwood . British Army 103rd Bde. D Bty Royal Field Artillery from Styal, Cheshire. (d.6th Jun 1917) |
Pte. George Eastwood . 15th Battalion from Stockton on Tees, Co. Durham (d.10th Sep 1918) My great uncle, George Eastwood, was killed in France on the Western Front, somewhere near Sailly-Saillisel. He died before my mother, Joyce Curson, was born, so I knew very little about him - just that he died at the age of 18, just a couple of months before the end of the war and that he was the brother of my grandmother Margaret Eastwood. When my grandfather died I found, amongst his papers, the medal and commemorative plaque for George and I decided to see if I could find out more. I now know that he has no known grave but is commemorated at the Vis-en-Artois Memorial at Pas de Calais. One day I hope to go and leave a flower for the young man who died in a muddy field and whose remains probably lie there still. My only regret is that I have no picture of George. If there are any distant relatives researching his story and who have a photo of him, I would love to see a copy. |
Pte. George Edward Ebbs . British Army 109th Btn. Machine Gun Corps (d.1st Jul 1916) |
Pte. Edward Eddy . British Army 2nd Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers (d.6th Mar 1915)
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Lt. J. H. Edgar . Army 9th Btn. Durham Light Infantry |
Sto. 2nd Cl. Walter Edgecombe . Royal Navy HMS Amphion from Plymouth This is a picture of some of HMS Amphion crew. My nan's father Walter Edgecombe is one of these men, he was a 2nd class stoker. |
Thomas Edmenson . British Army Durham Light Infantry from West Hartlepool My relative's name, Thomas Edmenson appears on the War memorial in West Hartlepool, in spite of extensive search I can find very little information about him. If anyone are able to help in any way it would be appreciated..... Thank you. |
Pte. G. Edmonds . British Army 12th Btn. (Teesside Pioneers) Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) from 36 Hill St East, Portrack, Stockton on Tees (d.4th May 1917) |
Rfm. John Edmondson . British Army 1st Battalion The Rifle Brigade. from Carnforth, Lancashire, England (d.1st Nov 1918) My Paternal Great Grandfather, John Edmondson, enlisted at Dalton in Furness on 7th August 1914 with the 4th Battalion of Kings Own Lancashire Regiment.
From 1915 to 1918 John sent my Great Grandmother (his girlfriend), Jane Wall, known as Jenny, many postcards from France, the last one received was in September 1918.
On John's Record for Soldier's Died in the Great War his Regiment was the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) 1st Battalion, Rifleman B/202112
(Comments: Formerly S/4/122327 R.A.S.C). He died of his wounds on 1st November 1918 and is buried at Ramillies British War Cemetery, Ramillies, Pas-de-Calais, France, Grave Ref: G.24.
The very sad thing about this story is that he never knew that Jenny was pregnant with his son when he died. She brought up their son by herself, which I know in those days must of been tough as a single mother. Although through her life Jenny had a few chances of marrying she never accepted the proposals and died in her 92nd year a single lady.
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Sjt. Charles Edwards . British Army Suffolk Regiment |
Cpl. Godfrey Charles Edwards . Army 9 Pack Bty. Royal Garrison Artillery
 2nd Pack Brigade. R.G.A. Royal Guard, 1921
 9 Pack Battery at Lavington Camp.
 9th. P. Bty. RGA
These are some photos that I came across when I was going through some of my late Uncle's papers. He was Mr. Godfrey Charles Edwards born in 1899, at Crofton Farm, Great Bedwyn, Marlborough, Wiltshire. At 6ft 4ins tall, he joined the Army during 1914-18 war, becoming a Corporal, and he would appear to be in each of these pictures.
In 1921 he was serving with 2nd Pack Brigade. R.G.A. Also I would be very interested in any information anyone may have. |
Rfm. J. R. Edwards . British Army 3rd Btn. The Rifle Brigade from 11, Victoria Place, High Rd., Kilburn, London. (d.7th Jun 1917) |
Dvr. Richard Stanley "Derry" Edwards . British Army 124 Brigade Royal Field Artillery from Pontypridd, Wales My grandfather was born Richard Stanley Rowlands, but changed his name to Edwards, his mothers previous married name. He signed up twice to a Welsh regiment but his Mother 'retrieved' him as he was under age born 2nd Jan 1898. He then managed to join the Royal Field Artillery but his records appear to have been destroyed in WW2 and I cant find any more detail other than that listed on his medal card.
If my deductions are correct he was in 124 Brigade as part of 37th Division serving from 1916 in France at the battles of the Somme, Ypres and Passchendaele amongst many others. He was a driver and rode the lead horse of a gun team. He survived the war and lived until the mid 1960's when I was only 3 years old. In the Second World War he was a chief fire watch officer and defused many incendiaries falling around Twickenham in London. My uncle still has his slide rule from his days as a RFA driver, and fire axe from WW2.
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Pte. Sydney Edwards . British Army 4th Btn. Durham Light Infantry from 1 Jesse Road, Francis Road, Leyton, London My grandfather, Sidney Edwards, (born in 1877) learnt tailoring while he was an orphan and this trade and his self-reliance helped him during WW1 too. He was only 5ft 2 ins tall, but joined the 9th Durham Light Infantry when he enlisted at Leyton, London on 21/7/1916 (his service number on joining was 5956 and his regimental number was 301741)
He was a Private and was posted to France on 5/1/1917. On 27/5/1918 he was gassed and reported missing. While he was lieing in a shell hole, still very badly disabled by the gas attack, a young German soldier appeared over him and was about about to bayonet him when Sidney threw up his arms and shouted "comrade, comrade". So the German took him prisoner instead. Sid was eventually transferred to a POW camp in Germany. On arrival at the camp the new prisoners were all lined up for inspection by the Camp Commandant, sitting on his horse. When the Commandant stopped at Sid he asked him where he was from and what he did. Sid answered he was a Tailor from Leyton. While they were talking Sid noticed a small tear in the Commandants uniform and told the Commandant he could repair it invisibly so it would not be noticed.
Sid became the camp tailor and was soon repairing the all uniforms of the very smart German officers and camp guards, who gave him small favours, plus extra rations which he shared with his hut mates. So he became popular with his colleagues and captors! He also slyly told the Germans he needed pork fat in order to "make their seams waterproof" but he, of course, used this to supplement the meagre prison rations of his hut too. So his early days of self reliance and quick wittedness, learnt as an orphan, in another large authoritarian institutional setting, served him very well again inside the prison camp and helped his survival in spite of his very small size. During his time in the prison camp he secretly made a large tailor made Union Jack by hand. When the armistice was declared he raised the Union Jack over the camp, on German soil!
When he was gassed and reported missing his wife was officially informed he was 'missing believed dead!'; so on his arrival back home, after his release, he was surprised to find his name had been included on the Honour Board, at his local chapel, for local men who had given their life in the service of their country during The Great War! However he was able to present, in person, his tailor made Union Jack 'victory flag', from the camp, to the chapel in Leyton in patriotic commemoration of the victory.
After the Great War he went on to become a Master Tailor living and working in Leyton. My cousins still have his medals and old German made treadle sowing machine.
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Pte. Thomas Edwards . British Army Remount Squad Army Service Corps from Merthyr, Tydfil I don't know a lot about my great grand father, ThoMas Edwards. All I have is name rank and number and 2 War Medals that he received for his service. But I would like to know more about the job he did and if he went to France. Are there any photos? Has anybody ever heard of his name? I would love to hear any stories.
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Pte. Garside "Ned" Edwin . British Army 1/9th Batallion Manchester Regiment from Market Street, Droylsden (d.25th April 1917) To the memory of Edwin Garside father of Maurice Garside R.I.P
This is the day my Great Grandfather Edwin died in WW1 in the Arras battle at Epehy. He was 22 with a baby boy at home, also called Maurice. He was married to Annie Williams and lived in Market Street Droylsden.
May we never forget our soldiers of the past, present and future.
The 1/9th Battalion war diary states the following.
8.45pm 24th through to 25th April 1917.
Epehy -
Operations of the morning to be continued, the 1/5th East Lancs to attack the Knoll from the NW. and W. 4th East Lancs Division out of trench F6a by German counter attack, retire on Little Priel Farm. The 4th East Lancs ordered to withdraw to No 13 Copse. The attack of the 5th East Lancs timed for 11pm delayed till situation cleared up. 5th East Lancs attack about 2am, but are not successful. Reported that Knoll was taken on right. C Company provide artillery, of 2 sections at F 3 d 88. Patrols penetrated Ossus Wood to about 300 yards, and were digging in but were forced to retire. Sniping Post established 50 yards from west end of Wood and on southern edge of wood. Enemy Machine guns known to be in Ossus Wood but not located.
Capt Stephenson and 2 platoons relieve 4th East Lancs in Spur Post. Attempt to relieve 2nd Lt Gray at Grays Post unsuccessful owing to difficulty in finding post. Requin and 14 Copse ----. Lt. Shatwell and 2 platoons D Company, attack Old German Trench, but it was strongly manned by enemy and is forced to withdraw. Heavy barrage and machine gun fire caused casualties.
Casualty Report for April :
Killed 6, Missing 7, Wounded 39, Sick 90.
Edwin is remembered on the Arras Memorial Bay 7.
God Bless you Edwin, we never got to know you, but you will never be forgotten X
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Pte. Robert Hamilton Elder . British Army 18th Battalion Highland Light Infantry from Corn Street, Glasgow. (d.18th July 1916) Robert Hamilton Elder, the son of David & Janet from Glasgow, was one of thousands of young men who went off to the Great War never to return. He was lost to the memory of the family, until I came across his birth and finally his tragic loss with the 18th Highland Infantry in Flanders. He is remembered on the Theipval Memorial.
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Fred Eley . Canadian Army 76th Overseas Battalion from Bingley, Yorkshire Fred Eley (on the census as Ely, on other paper work as Healy, or Healey). He mentions on a attestation sheet when he signed up for the 76th Overseas Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, that he had been in the 6th North Staffordshires for 8 years. He was born in Bingley in Yorkshire in 1886.
Can you help or point me in the right direction? Fred Eley is my gran's brother. |
Fred Eley . Canadian Army 76th Overseas Battalion from Bingley, Yorkshire Fred Eley (on the census as Ely, on other paper work as Healy, or Healey). He mentions on his attestation sheet when he signed up for the 76th Overseas Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, that he had been in the 6th North Staffordshires for 8 years. He was born in Bingley in Yorkshire in 1886.
Can you help or point me in the right direction? Fred Eley is my gran's brother. |
Sjt. John Ernest Elgie . British Army 2nd Btn. Durham Light Infantry from 13 Alexandria Road, Grangetown, Middlesbrough John Ernest Elgie, was my Gt Grand father, Son of the late Tom Elgie, of Black Lion Hotel, Thirsk, Yorks.; husband of Lily Elgie, of 13, Alexandra Rd., Grangetown, Yorks. |
Spr. Peter Ellery . British Army 128th Field Company Royal Engineers from Lyndhurst, Hampshire (d.17 May 1917) My Great, Great Uncle went to war with his brother Reginald. I know he served with 128th Field Coy RE at the time of his death which I believe places him in Flanders immediately before the Battle of Messines. I would like to find out how he died and where, although looking again at the date it was before the battle. I believe he was wounded four days before he died and was evacuated to the military field hospital near to the present day Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery where he is buried. |
Lt. Elliott . Army 8th Btn. Durham Light Infantry |
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