Arnold, Edmund Arthur

Age: 33
Date of birth: January 1889

Parents: Hannah Arnold
Wife:
Address: Bury St Edmunds

Occupation: Soldier

Edmund was born in January 1889 in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. His mother Hannah was single and remained unmarried. In 1891 she and Edmund were living alone in Bury St Edmunds and Hannah was working as a needlewoman.

In 1901, with Edmund aged 12, she was working as a housekeeper and boarding with a widower in Gazely, Suffolk. Hannah died in 1930 aged 77 in Bury St. Edmunds.

Note: there is a discrepancy in that Hannah’s age is given as 38 in the 1891 census and 31 in the 1901 census but her place of birth and the presence of Edmund confirm it is the same person.

Edmund’s effects were distributed to his mother as well as a Mary Jane Summers whose connection with Edmund is not known. Army records show his mother’s address in 1921 as 24 Church Lane, Troston, Bury St Edmunds.

Bury Free Press 9th November 1918

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only link we have found with Warwick so far is the Shrine Application which was completed by Lily McDermott who gave an address of 18 Meadow Road, although there is no family of that name listed in Warwick in the Spennell’s Trade Directory in either 1914 or 1919.

Military Service

Rank & Number: Lance Corporal, 10039
Regiment/Service: 12th (Service) Battalion, East Surrey Regiment
Brigade/Division: 122nd Brigade, 41st Division
Date of death: Wednesday, July 24, 1918
Cause of death/Battle: Killed in action
Commemorated/Buried: Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium
Awards: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
Commemorated locally at:

Edmund originally enlisted in the 1st Dragoons of the 2nd East Surrey Regiment on 27th July 1908. On his attestation papers he is described as 5’ 6¾” tall with blue eyes and brown hair and had been working as a barman. In 1909 he was shipped to India where he served until 1914 and suffered a range of medical conditions: dysentry, malaria, impetigo and ringworm.

His military record shows that he was punished on several occasions for disobedience and insubordination and he was transferred from the Dragoons in 1911 “with a bad character”. However in 1914 his commanding officer in the Service battalion described him as “clean, sober, thrifty, intelligent. He has greatly improved during the last two years of his service”.

By 1915 Edmund was in France. He suffered a gunshot wound on 16th February 1915, and was hospitalised in Rouen. On 3rd May 1915 he received a shrapnel wound to his left ankle. In October of that year he was among the troops who sailed from Marseille to Alexandria. In September 1916 he was invalided to England, suffering from dysentry. Having been discharged in January 1917 he was readmitted with malaria in July.

On 13th August 1917 he was appointed a Lance Corporal.

The letter below which shows that his next of kin was informed of him being wounded on 20th September 1917, suggests that the army lost track of him. However he rejoined his battalion on 24th September and on 12th November proceeded to Italy but returned to France on 1st March 1918. He was wounded again and on 1st May 1918 again returned to his battalion before his death in July.

Contributors

  • Unlocking Warwick Research Group
  • Shrine application courtesy of Warwickshire County Record Office

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