Military History

Theatre of War	Medals	Commonwealth War Grave of Memorial
France and Flanders	1914-15 Star, British War & Victory Medals	Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial
Arrived in Theatre	Medal Citation (if app)	SWFHS Area Memorials
22 Dec 1914 in France	~	Wellesbourne
Action, Battle or Other Reason Killed	Date and Place Enlisted	Other War Memorials
Second Battle Ypres	20 Aug 1914 at Ottowa, Canada	Canadian Virtual Memorial
Place of Death	Previous Regiments or Units	Other Military Information
east of Bellewaarde	7th Bn Royal Welsh Fusiliers (Territorials)	30 Apr 1915 - Promoted to Lance Corporal

The Canadian Virtual War Memorial link above contains copies of letters sent from the front by Edmund.

Circumstances Leading to Death (Normally from War Diary)           

During the opening phases of the Second Battle of Ypres the ‘Patricias’ came under severe bombardment and on the night of 3-4th May 1915 withdrew to positions around Bellewaerde Lake, 500 metres from Hooge. On the 6th and 7th the enemy bombardment continued and at 5.30 am on Saturday the 8th, the shelling started again but this time the enemy attacked, pushing forward against the Bellewaerde and Frezenberg Ridges. As casualties built up every available Canadian, signallers, pioneers, cooks, orderlies were called up to man the support trenches.

If the Patricia’s were forced back there was a risk that the whole Divisional Front would collapse. Another mass German attack by infantry two hours later was again repulsed inflicting huge losses to the enemy but nevertheless their own losses were described as ‘Terrible’. ‘Machine guns pushed forward by the enemy swept the battered line as the Canadians exposed themselves to fire, and many men went down. But the line held firm and when relieved just before midnight only 4 officers and 150 men remained, with 400 casualties of which 112 were dead. The Battalions stand at the Battle of Frezenberg, as it became known, has been referred to as the ‘Death of the Originals’ but ranks as the greatest of its Battle Honours and according to the Official history ‘was among the most historic episodes of the war’.

The above courtesy of Dene Valley U3A.  The PDF contains more information about the Princess Patricia's regiment and Edmund's military service.