Edgar was born on 12th November 1897 to John and Janie (nee Menhinick), their first child, a year after the couple got married. On the 1901 census the little family lived in a small village called Egloshayle, near Wadebridge in Cornwall. In the September quarter of 1904 Edgar’s baby brother Wilfred was born but he sadly died 3 months later in December. He gained a baby sister, Violet in the spring of 1907 but tragically lost his mother in the process. Two years later in 1909 Edgar’s father re-married to Annie Gill and the family of four were recorded on the 1911 census living at Coldrock, Egloshayle, with Edgar still at school.
On leaving school he worked at the local post office as a telegraph messenger before joining the Navy on 26th May 1913 at HMS IMPREGNABLE as a Boy 2nd Class. He was 5’4” tall with brown hair and blue eyes and remained in training until 22nd September 1913.
His service follows:
HMS POWERFUL - 23/09/1913 - 17/02/1914, rising to Boy 1st Class on 17th February 1914
HMS CRESCENT - 18/02/1914 - 05/06/1914
HMS VIVID I - 06/06/1914 - 06/07/1914
HMS THUNDERER - 07/07/1914 - 01/03/1915
HMS VIVID I - 02/03/1915 - 22/06/1915, rising to Signal Boy on 28th May 1915.
HMS BENBOW - 23/06/1915 - 06/02/1916, rising to Ordinary Signalman on 12th November 1915, his 18th birthday
HMS HOLLYHOCK - 07/02/1916 - 08/06/1916, rising to Signalman on 5th May 1916
HMS LUPIN - 09/06/1916 - 21/05/1917
HMS VANGUARD - 22/05/1917 - 09/07/1917
Edgar was aboard the dreadnought for less than 2 months before he was killed, aged just 19.
He is remembered on the Wadebridge War Memorial, at the top of the hill in Coronation Gardens, overlooking the valley.
(#274 - 61/843)
Sources:
1901 & 1911 England Census
Free BMD
Royal Navy Registers of Seamen's Services, 1848-1939 National Archives Royal Navy Registers of Seamen's Services; Class: ADM 188; Piece: 697
British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960 National Archives Admiralty: Naval Casualties, Indexes, War Grave Rolls and Statistics Book, First World War.; Class: ADM 242; Piece 007 (1914 - 1919)
British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960 National Archives Admiralty and predecessors: Office of the Director General of the Medical Department of the Navy and predecessors: Service Registers and Registers of Deaths and Injuries. Registers of Reports of Deaths
CWGC Register
Royal Navy and Royal Marine War Graves Roll, 1914-1919 ADM 242/7; Scan Number: 0265
WWI Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923 Western Front Association; London, England; Pension Record Cards; Reference: 019/0062/BEA-BEA
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