Capt Arthur de Bells Adam (MC)
1885 - 1916

CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916

Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916

Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916

Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918

Pte 34141 Douglas Roland Edkins

Age: 24
From: Liverpool
Regiment: 10 KSLI
Died on Monday 18th March 1918
Commemorated at: Jerusalem War Cemetery
Panel Ref: P98

Douglas Roland Edkins was born on 18th January 1894 in Toxteth Park, Liverpool, and baptised on 01st April 1894in St. Bede’s Church, Toxteth, his parents’ address 29 Rossett Avenue, and his father’s occupation salesman (on his brothers’ baptisms his father is described as a wollen salesman). He was the son of Clement Edkins and his wife Rosina Jane (née Chinnery).

His father was born in Newport, Shropshire, and his mother, the daughter of an army officer, in Cavan, Ireland. They married in December 1888 in Oxfordshire and soon after the marriage moved to Liverpool.

They had three children, all born in Toxteth. Douglas had an older brother Clement William Robert, born in 1891, and a younger brother Leonard, in 1897, who died at the age of one.

By the time of the 1901 census they have moved to Formby, living at Tandridge(?) in Raven Meols Lane. Douglas is 7. His father is a merchant tailor, employer. Also in the household is his widowed grandfather William Chinnery, 85, retired Army Captain (died in 1905).

In 1911 they are living at 11 Cambridge Road, Crosby. His father, 54, is a tailor in business, employer, and his mother is 52. His brother Clement, 19, is an insurance clerk, Douglas is 17, a shop assistant in his father’s business.

He enlisted in Liverpool and joined the 19th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 29732.

Formed on 07^th September 1914 the 19^th Battalion trained locally at Sefton Park and remained living at home or in rented accommodation until November 1914. They then moved to the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 19th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain.

He arrived in France on 8th November 1915 (a day later than his battalion). At some point he was transferred to the 6th Garrison Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers as Private 62383 (his name has not been found on any list of wounded).

He was subsequently transferred to the 10th Battalion of the Shropshire Light Infantry (Shropshire and Cheshire Yeomanry) as Private 34141. This was a Territorial Battalion formed at Cairo on 02nd March 1917, from two dismounted Yeomanry regiments, and came under the command of 231st Brigade in 74th (Yeomanry) Division.

The 10th KSLI were with the 231st Brigade of the 74th Division in Palestine. Between 8-11th March 1918 the 231st Brigade captured Sh. Salem, 230th Brigade occupied the ridge overlooking Sinjil. This was the final operation of The 74th (Yeomanry) Division in Palestine, and after a few weeks spent in holding the captured line the Division was withdrawn for service in France.

In the attack of the 10th March, Pte H. Whitfield of the Shropshire's charged a Lewis gun team single handed, using his bayonet and won the VC.

It is not known when Douglas was wounded in action, but he died of his wounds, aged 24, on 18th March 1918 at 231 Field Ambulance.

Douglas Roland now rests at Jerusalem War Cemetery in grave P.98 where his headstone bears the epitaph:

"GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS"

At the outbreak of the First World War, Palestine (now Israel) was part of the Turkish Empire and it was not entered by Allied forces until December 1916. The advance to Jerusalem took a further year, but from 1914 to December 1917, about 250 Commonwealth prisoners of war were buried in the German and Anglo-German cemeteries of the city.

By 21 November 1917, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force had gained a line about five kilometres west of Jerusalem, but the city was deliberately spared bombardment and direct attack. Very severe fighting followed, lasting until the evening of 8 December, when the 53rd (Welsh) Division on the south, and the 60th (London) and 74th (Yeomanry) Divisions on the west, had captured all the city's prepared defences. Turkish forces left Jerusalem throughout that night and in the morning of 9 December, the Mayor came to the Allied lines with the Turkish Governor's letter of surrender. Jerusalem was occupied that day and on 11 December, General Allenby formally entered the city, followed by representatives of France and Italy.

Meanwhile, the 60th Division pushed across the road to Nablus, and the 53rd across the eastern road. From 26 to 30 December, severe fighting took place to the north and east of the city but it remained in Allied hands.

JERUSALEM WAR CEMETERY was begun after the occupation of the city, with 270 burials. It was later enlarged to take graves from the battlefields and smaller cemeteries in the neighbourhood.

There are now 2,515 Commonwealth burials of the First World War in the cemetery, 100 of them unidentified.

There is a small Jewish Section, near Plot "N".

Within the cemetery stands the JERUSALEM MEMORIAL, commemorating 3,300 Commonwealth servicemen who died during the First World War in operations in Egypt or Palestine and who have no known grave. It was designed by Sir John Burnet, with sculpture by Gilbert Bayes. In addition, the mosaic in the Memorial Chapel was designed by Robert Anning Bell. The Memorial was unveiled by Lord Allenby and Sir James Parr on 7 May 1927.

His death was reported in the Liverpool Echo on 22nd March 1918:

“March 19 [sic], died of wounds, Douglas Roland, dearly-loved younger son of Clement and Rosina Edkins, Innishmore, Ince Avenue, Crosby.”

Liverpool Echo 25th March 1918

EDKINS - March 19, DOUGLAS ROLAND, died of wounds, the dearly loved youngest son of Clement and Rosina Edkins, Inishmore, Ince Avenue, Crosby

His Army effects and a War Gratuity of £13 went to his father Clement. No pension card has been found, indicating that Douglas had no dependents, or that his parents did not apply for a pension.

Probate, showing his address as Innishmore, Ince Avenue, Crosby, in the amount of £298-2s-6d was granted to his father.

His brother Clement served in the 6th Battalion K.L.R. and went to France in February 1915. He was commissioned in May 1917, and served as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 18th K.L.R. He survived the war, and had a son in 1919 he named Douglas.

CWGC records show his parents address as 80, Bold St., Liverpool, this appears to be his father’s business premises..

In 1939 his parents are living at 66 Prenton Road West, Birkenhead. His father, 81, is retired, his mother is 83.

His father died in 1943 aged 84, and his mother in 1947 aged 90.

Douglas is commemorated on the following memorials -

St. Michael’s, Blundellsands

St. Luke’s Church, Great Crosby

Great Crosby and Blundellsands Memorial

Liverpool’s Hall Of Remembrance, Panel 2

And on the gravestone of his grandfather William Chinnery in Southport Cemetery

ALSO OF DOUGLAS ROLAND EDKINS

3RD K.L.R. GRANDSON OF THE ABOVE,

WHO FELL IN ACTION IN PALESTINE

MARCH 19TH [sic] 1918, AGED 24 YEARS

Soldiers Effects to father Clement, no Pension record found.

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

Killed On This Day.

(109 Years this day)
Monday 23rd April 1917.
Pte 17242 William Ernest Adams
23 years old

(109 Years this day)
Monday 23rd April 1917.
Cpl 16763 William Thomas Allmark
20 years old

(109 Years this day)
Monday 23rd April 1917.
Cpl 53085 Frank Percival Bell
26 years old

(109 Years this day)
Monday 23rd April 1917.
Lieut Charles David Calcott
23 years old

(109 Years this day)
Monday 23rd April 1917.
Pte 48040 Herbert Cook
39 years old

(109 Years this day)
Monday 23rd April 1917.
Pte 57916 Charles William Cooper
24 years old

(109 Years this day)
Monday 23rd April 1917.
Pte 53100 Ernest Ephraim Evans
22 years old

(109 Years this day)
Monday 23rd April 1917.
Pte 56724 William Alfred Hignett
30 years old

(109 Years this day)
Monday 23rd April 1917.
Pte 57713 John Hodgkinson
20 years old

(109 Years this day)
Monday 23rd April 1917.
Pte 17602 William Alfred Hollis
19 years old

(109 Years this day)
Monday 23rd April 1917.
Sgt 25114 John Reginald Hughes
26 years old

(109 Years this day)
Monday 23rd April 1917.
C.S.M 17060 John Daniel Jones
29 years old

A total of 26 Pals were killed on this day. View All