Pte 24979 Edward Penkman

• Age: 21
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Wednesday 12th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

Edward Triner Penkman was born on 12th July 1894 the son of William Penkman and his wife Caroline Lydia (nee Middleditch) who married 12th Jan 1871 Rawalpindi, India.
He was baptised on 24th October 1894 at St John the Evangelist Church, Everton. The baptismal records show that his father was a milk dealer and the family address was 2 Dyke Street.

His mother Caroline was born in the East Indies in 1854. She is found as the head of the household, an army pensioner on the 1881 Census living at 17 Thomas Street, Congleton. She has four children with her William A.V. born 1872, Caroline L. b. 1876, John H. b. 1878 and James M. b. Congleton in 1880.   

Edward's mother, Caroline, died in the fourth quarter of 1896 aged 42.

The 1901 Census finds the family living at 114 Hackthorpe Street, Everton.

Edward is 6 years of age and is living with his father who is widowed and his four elder brothers. His father is recorded as having been born in Macclesfield in 1844 and is an Army pensioner. His military record shows that he was formerly in the 6th Battalion of the Warwickshire Regiment. Edward's brothers are listed as; John H. an oil cake maker born in India in 1878, Jesse a coal carter born in Congleton, Cheshire in 1882, Frederick born in Liverpool in 1888 and Albert also born in Liverpool in 1890.

Edward was educated at St. Mary's Church of England School, Kirkdale. 

By 1911 the family are still resident at 114 Hackthorpe Street.

Edward is now 17 and an errand boy at a quarry on St Domingo Road. He is living with his father now aged 71 and his brother Albert now aged 20 and a carter. 

Edward enlisted in Liverpool joining the 17th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 24979. He trained in the UK arriving in France on 07th November 1915.

He was killed in action at Trones Wood on 12th July 1916 the day of his 22nd Birthday. 

The murderous fighting that went on inside Trones Wood rendered it impossible to put specific dates on some of the casualties which is why many of the 17^th Battalion losses have been bracketed as killed in action between 10^th – 12th July 1916. The conditions are best described in the following passage from Everard Wyrall’s book The History of The King’s Regiment (Liverpool) Volume II. 

The remembrance of Trones Wood in July 1916 to those who passed through it is of a noisome, horrible place, of a tangled mass of trees and undergrowth which had been tossed and flung about in frightful confusion by the shells of both sides. Of the ghastly dead which lay about in all directions, and of DEATH, lurking in every hole and corner with greedy hands ready to snatch the lives of the unwary.  

The place was a Death trap, and although the attacks were made with great determination,  the presence of snipers who could not be detected and often fired into the backs of our men made the clearing of the wood impossible.

Originally reported as Missing he was declared Wounded in the local press on 26th August 1916

His body was not recovered and Edward's name is commemorated on the Thievpal Memorial to the Missing of the Somme in France. 

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

Soldiers Effects and pension to  went to his father William.

The father William Alfred died aged 77, buried 20 Apr 1920 at Anfield Cemetery.

We currently have no further information on Edward Penkman, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.