Pte 16172 Harold Edwards

• Age: 21
• From: Tranmere
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 1st July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

16172 Private Harold EDWARDS, 18^th Battalion KLR.

Harold Edwards was born on the 12th November 1894 in Rock Ferry, Birkenhead, the third of five children born to Thomas Edwards, a metal turner, and his wife Margaret Elizabeth(nee Roberts), both from Mold, Flintshire. They married on the 27th May 1890 at Holy Trinity, Birkenhead. Their first child, Jane, was born in Mold, Flint in 1891; their second, Edith, in Chester in 1893; and by the time Harold was born they had moved to live in Tranmere, Birkenhead. Harold was baptised on the 25th May 1895 at St Luke, Tranmere. 

In the 1901 Census Thomas aged 36, and Margaret aged 37, live with their four eldest children at 10 Wye Street, Tranmere. The children are listed as Jane aged 9, Edith aged 7 Harold aged 5 and Elsie aged 1. 

By 1911 they live with their four younger children at 21 Beaconsfield Road, Tranmere, Edith is 18, Elsie is 11, the youngest, Fred having been born in 1903. Father Thomas is aged 42(?), is shown as a fitter/turner at the Soap Works, mother Margaret is aged 41(?) and they have been married 20 years, 5 children, Harold now 16, as a clerk working for a soap manufacturer (Lever Brothers). 

Harold enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool on 02^nd September 1914, joining the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 16172. He gave his age as 19 years 294 days, his occupation as clerk and his next of kin as his father of 21 Beaconsfield Road. He is described as being 5' 7" tall, weighed 106 lbs, 34” chest  with a sallow complexion, brown eyes and hair. His religion is stated as Church of England.

From the 23^rd September 1914 he was billeted at Hooton Park Race Course and remained there until 03^rd December 1914 when they moved into the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 18th 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 served in France from 07^th November 1915, arriving at Boulogne and earning all three medals.

In January and March 1916 he was admitted to 97 Field Ambulance suffering from foot problems and rejoined his Unit on 01^st April 1916.

He was killed in action three months later during the attack at Montauban on 01^st July 1916, he was 21 years of age.

18^th Battalion Diary

At 6.30am the artillery commenced an intensive bombardment of the enemy’s trenches. Zero Hour – 7.30 am – the battalion commenced to leave their trenches and the attack commenced. The attack was pressed with great spirit and determination in spite of heavy shelling and machine gun enfilade fire which caused casualties amounting to 2/3rds of the strength of the Battalion in action. The whole system of German trenches including the Glatz Redoubt was captured without any deviation from the scheduled programme. Consolidated positions and made strong points for defence against possible counter attacks. 

Graham Maddocks provides more detail concerning the events of the day:

As the first three waves began to move forward towards the German reserve line, known as Alt Trench and then on to the Glatz Redoubt itself, they suddenly came under enfilading fire from the left. This was from a machine gun which the Germans had sited at a strong point in Alt Trench. The gun itself was protected by a party of snipers and bombers, who, hidden in a rough hedge, were dug into a position in Alt Trench, at its junction with a communication trench known as Alt Alley. These bombers and snipers were themselves protected by rifle fire from another communication trench, Train Alley which snaked back up the high ground and into Montauban itself. The machine gun fire was devastating and it is certain that nearly of the Battalion’s casualties that day were caused by that one gun.  

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Trotter  wrote in the conclusion of his account of the days action:

I cannot speak to highly of the gallantry of the Officers and men. The men amply repaid the care and kindness of their Company Officers, who have always tried to lead and not to drive. As laid down in my first lecture to the Battalion when formed, in the words of Prince Kraft:

“Men follow their Officers not from fear, but from love of the Regiment where everything had always and at all times gone well with them”.    

Joe Devereux in his book A Singular Day on the Somme gives the Casualty Breakdown for the 18^th Battalion as Killed in Action 7 Officers and 165 men and of those who died in consequence of the wounds 3 Officers and 19 men a total of 194 out of a total loss for the four Liverpool Pals Battalions of 257.

His death was reported in the Birkenhead News on the 15th July 1916; 

ANOTHER “PAL” KILLED. 

A Port Sunlight Employee. 

Mr. and Mrs. T. Edwards, of 21, Beaconsfield-road, have heard officially that their eldest son, Private H. Edwards, of 2nd Battalion of the "Pals," has been killed in action. He enlisted at the beginning of the war, and had been at the front for eight months. The young man - he was only 20 - was employed in the draughtsmen's office at Messrs. Lever Bros. and Co., and had many friends there who will deplore his death.  

He was also reported as killed in the Liverpool Daily Post on 07th August 1916; 

Edwards 16172 H. (Birkenhead); 

Harold's body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

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.”

In December 1919, his father swore a declaration stating that his wife, Margaret, was deceased and that Harold was survived by a brother, Fred, 17 years, and three sisters: Jane, 28 years, Edith, 26 years, and Elsie, 20 years, with all four children still living with their father at 21 Beaconsfield Road.

In January 1922, no doubt in reply to a letter from Thomas, the military records at Preston wrote to him assuring him that the official commemorative plaque (known colloquially as the Dead Man’s Penny) would be sent to him as soon as it was available, urging patience in view of the enormous number which were required.

Harold is remembered on the Lever Brothers War Memorial, The Causeway, Port Sunlight. 

He is also possibly on the war memorial in the Church of St Peter's Church, St Peter’s Road, Rock Ferry Wirral.

His father died, aged 74, in 1938. 

His family posted an In Memorium notice in the Liverpool Echo on the 26th October 1939; 

EDWARDS —In loving memory of our Dad, died October 26, 1938 (Sadly missed.) Also memories of Mother, Edith and Harold - Never forgotten by All at 21 Beaconsfield Road, Tranmere. 

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