Private FREDERICK EDWARDS

1, Greenhill Road, Winchester
Service numbers 2418 and 241286. Hampshire Royal Garrison Artillery
and 2/5th Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment
Died of wounds, Palestine, 25 May 1918

Family Background

Frederick Edwards was born on 7 June 1885 in Sixpenny Handley, a Dorset village on Cranborne Chase, ten miles east of Blandford Forum. Known as Fred to his family, friends and on official documents, he was born Henry Fred J. Ingram, the illegitimate son of Amelia Clara Ingram. Amelia, also illegitimate, was the daughter of Charlotte Ingram and had been born in Handley in 1861. Charlotte had married a Samuel Joy in 1864.

In 1881 Amelia was working as a servant at West Tytherley Rectory, near Stockbridge. By 1891 she was employed as a cook at a house in Culvers Close, Winchester. Five-year-old Fred, meanwhile, was living in Handley with his grandmother Charlotte who by this time was widowed. In late 1891 Amelia married John Edwards in Winchester.

John Edwards had been born in 1855 in Shoreditch, London. In 1873, he married his first wife, Sarah Emily Burgess, who had been born in Selborne, Hampshire, in 1855. By 1881 the couple were living at 36, North Walls, Winchester, with their three children - John Jnr, born in London in 1877, and Caroline and Charles, both born in Winchester in 1879 and 1880 respectively.

John Edwards was then struck by a succession of tragedies, beginning in 1881 with the death of his son, Charles. In 1886 his wife Sarah also died, followed by another daughter, Annie, who was barely a year old. By 1891 John was working as a muffin baker and living with his surviving children in Little Minster Street, Winchester.

Later that year, John Edwards married Amelia Ingram, who thereafter was known as Clara. Fred joined his mother and stepfather in Winchester and the new family expanded with the births of Fred’s half-brother and half-sister, Hector and Mabel, in 1893 and 1894. Fred attended Western Infants School in Elm Road – but probably only for a short time given that he had been living in Dorset in 1891 - before entering St Thomas Church of England Senior Boys’ School, in 1893, aged eight. It is not known when he left school.

In 1894 the Edwards family moved to 1, Greenhill Road, Fulflood, which would remain their home up to the Great War and beyond. In 1901 John Edwards was operating a muffin and breadmaking business from the property, assisted by his elder son. Meanwhile, Fred was working part-time as an errand boy for a pork butcher.

By the time of the 1911 Census John Edwards was no longer a baker, but was working instead as a house painter, employing John Jnr and Hector as labourers. Fred, too, had found steady work as a bricklayer. The Trade Union Membership Register 1914-16 reveals that during that period he was a member of the Operative Bricklayers’ Society and that he received sickness payments from the union.

Great War Record

Fred Edwards did not join the rush to the colours in the early months of the Great War. Two possible explanations suggest themselves. First, John Edwards Snr died early in 1914 and Fred may have felt he should stay at home and support his widowed mother. The second explanation is less altruistic. In late 1914 and 1915, with military camps going up all round Winchester, the construction industry was booming. For builders like Fred the opportunity to make good money may have proved irresistible.

The Winchester War Service Register states that Fred Edwards enlisted with the 2/5th Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment in March 1916. However, research has revealed that he attested under the Derby Scheme at the end of 1915 and was called up on 14 February 1916 at Hilsea, Portsmouth, where he joined the Hampshire Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) with the service number 2148.

It is unclear how long Fred served with the RGA before transferring to the 2/5th Hampshires. Nor do his Army records state when he entered a theatre of war. The 2/5th Hampshires were sent to India at the start of the war and remained there until March 1917 when they deployed to Palestine. It is possible that Fred became bored with a home posting (the Hampshire RGA did not serve overseas) and transferred soon after enlisting. In this case he may have served in India before being sent to Palestine to fight at the Third Battle of Gaza in November 1917 and then in the advance on Jerusalem and the capture of the port of Jaffa the following month.

What is known is that Fred Edwards was wounded and taken prisoner by the Turks on 10 May 1918 when the 2/5th Hampshires attacked the village of Berukin (present day Bruqin, situated within the Palestinian-controlled West Bank), north of Jerusalem. The battle, which began the previous day, saw fighting against both Turkish and German forces. The 2/5th Hampshires lost four officers and some 50 men killed and missing and a further 90 men wounded in its last major engagement before being disbanded three months later. Fred died of his wounds in captivity at Jabez on 25 May 1918, aged 32.

Family after the Great War

Fred’s family continued to reside at 1, Greenhill Road after war. In 1939 his mother Clara was living there with her stepson John Jnr and daughter Mabel who, by this time, was married to Frederick Newman. John Jnr was selling cakes assisted by Mabel and Frederick. It is not known when Clara Edwards died.

Medals and Memorials for Frederick Edwards

Private Frederick Edwards was entitled to the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He is buried at Ramleh War Cemetery, near Tel Aviv, Israel (PR. V. 28. Special Memorial) and is mentioned on the memorials at St Matthew’s and St Paul’s churches, Winchester. His name also appears on the St Thomas Boys’ School Memorial, now held at Kings’ School, Winchester.

Researcher – DEREK WHITFIELD