Edward was born 14th September 1895 at Beaconsfield Road, Willesden and by 1911 he was living with his father Alfred and mother Adelaide at Meadow View, South Woodham Ferrers where his father ran a smallholding. Also there at that time was his younger sister Grace. He also had two older brothers William and Harry and an older sister Rose.
According to his service record Edward was educated at Hullbridge Board School which, at that time, served the children of South Woodham Ferrers who had to cross the River Crouch by boat at high tide or by horse and cart when the tide was out.
In October 1912 Edward left these shores and moved to Australia on the SS Geelong to work as an unloader of ships in Sydney Harbour. In July 1915 he volunteered for war service and signed on for the duration of the war plus four months and was assigned to the 2nd Battalion Australian Imperial Force who were, at that time, fighting at Gallipoli from where they eventually withdrew late in December 1915. It is not clear whether Edward served in Gallipoli. He was later transferred to the 54th Battalion in February 1916 when that battalion was formed with much of its compliment made up of 2nd battalion men who had been withdrawn from Gallipoli. He was promoted to lance corporal in May when he was in Egypt.
In June of that year the battalion embarked in Alexandria for Marseilles where they landed on 29th and moved up to the front where they were involved in a diversionary attack on Fromelles on the Somme and suffered huge casualties losing 65% of their strength. Edward was wounded during this engagement and was transferred to a hospital in England. The battalion was reinforced and remained in the Somme theatre until they were involved in the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line in early 1917 but Edward was not with them.
He was sent back to the Western Front on 25th April 1917 and rejoined his unit on 17th May. In June he was further promoted to corporal. The battalion was subsequently transferred to the Ypres Salient in Belgium and launched a major attack during the Battle of Polygon Wood which lasted from 26th September until 3rd October part of the 3rd Battle of Ypres otherwise known as Passchendaele. The day before the attack Edward was reported wounded and missing and eventually confirmed as killed in action although his body was never identified. He is commemorated on the Menin Gate in Ypres along with thousands of other allied soldiers from the Ypres Salient for whom their are no known graves.
Sadly his brother Harry was another casualty of the Great War dying in Basra in Iraq in June 1916.