Pte 235264 Edwin Maurice Ward

• Age: 35
• From: Darlington
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• D.O.W Saturday 20th October 1917
• Commemorated at: Trois Arbres
  Panel Ref: II.A.31

Edwin Maurice Ward was born 1882 at Darlington and was the son of Jonathan Ward and his wife Emma (née Dale). He was baptised on 26th April 1882 in St. Paul’s, Darlington (middle name spelled Morris). Both of his parents were born in Yorkshire, his father in Greta Bridge, and his mother in Manfield.  They married in Middlesbrough in 1877, and had eight children; Edwin had older siblings John Dale, Meggie, and William, and younger siblings Elizabeth Hannah, Joseph Harold, Charles Frederick (who died in infancy), and Alfred. 

At the time of the 1891 census the family is living at 17 Albion Street, Darlington, with five children. His father is an engine fitter. Edwin is 9 years old.

By 1901 they have moved to 42 North Road, and have six children. His father is 46, an engine fitter, his mother is 50. His siblings in the household are shown as; John, 23, is a gents’ tailor, Meggie, 21, a confectioner/baker, William, 21, is a joiner’s apprentice, Edwin is 18, a coal merchant’s clerk, and Elizabeth, 17, is a confectioner’s assistant. Joseph is 14, and Alfred 9.

The 1911 Census shows the family living at 30 Salisbury Terrace, Darlington. His father Jonathan is aged 56, is an engine fitter.  His wife Emma is aged 60, and is a confectionery shopkeeper. They have been married for thirty three years and have had eight children of which one had died. Those children still residing at home are lsited as: Edwin Maurice aged 29, born 1882 is a clerk in the gas and water office of Darlington Corporation, and Alfred aged 19, born 1892 is an apprentice.

He enlisted in Stockton, Durham  on 31st August 1914, originally serving as Private 2476 in the 5th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry. He was posted to the Reserve on 26th December 1914. Whilst in service his mother died in Januaruy 1915, aged 64. He was appointed paid Lance Corporal on 29th May1915 and promoted Acting Corporal on 28th August 1915.

Edwin married Elizabeth Victoria Maughan in Holy Trinity Church in Darlington on 11th July 1916. He changes his next of kin to his wife Elizabeth at Prior Terrace, Buckland Road, Cockerton, Darlington.

He was posted to the 2/4th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment on 27th October 1916. He was reduced to Lance Corporal on 01st May 1917 for “while on active service in C of G allowing his sentry to leave his post without permission”.

He was posted to the 1/4th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment on 09th June 1917 and the same day was posted to the 5th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment reverting to Private. He joined the B.E.F. in France the next day, 10th June 1917, never to see his daughter Mary was born on 08th July 1917, one month after Edwin left for the front.   

Whilst in France he was posted to the 18th Battalion K.L.R. as Private No 235264 on 24th June 1917 and to the 17th Battalion K.L.R. on 07th October 1917.

Edwin died of wounds at the 2nd Australian Clearing Station on the 20th October, 1917 aged 35, during the Third Battle of Ypres.

He now rests ar Trois-Arbres Cemetery, Steenwerck, France. 

Steenwerck village remained untouched for much of the First World War, but on 10 April 1918 it was captured by the Germans and remained in their possession until the beginning of October. Trois-Arbres passed into German hands a day later than Steenwerck, after a rearguard defence by the 34th Division. The site for Trois Arbres Cemetery was chosen for the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station in July 1916, and Plot 1 and the earlier rows of Plot II, were made and used by that hospital until April 1918. A few further burials were made in the cemetery after the German withdrawal at the end of 1918 and after the Armistice, over 700 graves were brought into it from the battlefields of Steenwerck, Nieppe, Bailleul and Neuve-Eglise. Graves from the following graveyards were concentrated into Trois-Arbres Cemetery:-. DOUANE CEMETERY, NEUVE-EGLISE, at the Custom House on the road from Neuve-Eglise to Nieppe, contained the graves of 15 soldiers from Canada and four from the United Kingdom who fell in 1915-16. FORTRIE FARM CEMETERY, NEUVE-EGLISE, 1.6Kms West of the hamlet of Le Romarin, contained the graves of 27 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in November and December 1914. LINEN FACTORY CEMETERY, BAC-ST. MAUR. This was a row of graves in Steenwerck commune, in the angle formed by the river Lys, the road from Bac-St. Maur to Croix-du-Bac, and Edwards's Linen Factory. In it were buried 20 soldiers from the United Kingdom, one from India and seven Germans. There are now 1,704 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 435 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to ten casualties known or believed to be buried among them. The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

The site for Trois Arbres Cemetery was chosen for the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station in July 1916, and Plot 1 and the earlier rows of Plot II, were made and used by that hospital until April 1918.

The Medal Roll shows overseas service with the 18th and 17th Battalions of K.L.R. and entitlement to the Victory Medal and British War Medal.

The Pension cards give his rank as Corporal despite the fact that he was a Private with the K.L.R. 

Elizabeth received his Army pay and a War Gratuity of £14. She claimed a pension on 15th April 1918, and was awarded 20/5d a week for herself and child.

Probate, giving Edwin’s address as Prior Terrace, Cockerton, Darlington, was granted to his widow in the amount of £489-4s.

One month before Edwin’s death, on 11th September 1917, also during the Third Battle of Ypres, his brother William, serving with the Royal Engineers, had died of wounds. William, 36, now rests at Voormezeele Enclosures.

His father died in 1930, aged 75.

In 1939 his widow Elizabeth, 52, and daughter Mary are living at 6 Prior Street. Mary, 22, is a clerk with the borough treasurer. She married in 1944 and died in 2003, aged 86.

His widow Elizabeth never remarried and lived until 1981, dying at the age of 94. 

Edwin and William are both commemorated on the Darlington Town Memorial and on the family headstone in Darlington North Cemetery (“killed in France”) with their parents and infant brother. 

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