Lance Corporal 12453 Eli Edwards

Killed in Action on Friday, 6th August 1915, age 25.
Commemorated on Panel 104 to 113 of Helles Memorial, Turkey.

4th Bn., Worcestershire Regiment. 88th Brigade of 29th Division.

Son of the late Mr and Mrs Thomas Edwards.
Born: Tipton, Enlisted: Dudley, Resident: Tipton.

First landed France & Flanders, 23rd December 1914.
Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Soldier's Papers at National Archives did not survive.

Not commemorated on any Tipton memorial.
Commemorated here because identified as Tipton on 'Soldiers Died in the Great War'.

Link to Commonwealth War Graves Site: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/695644/

Genealogical Data

Birth of Eli Edwards registered in September quarter 1890 in Dudley.

1891 Census
10 Coppice Street, Tipton, Staffs.
Thomas Edwards (44, Coal Miner, born Shropshire), his wife Emily (38, born Cradley Heath), and their 7 children: Thomas (15, born Tipton), Joseph (11, born Tipton), George H. (7, born Tipton), Mary A. (6, born Tipton), Walter (3, born Tipton), and Eli (9 months, born Tipton).

1901 Census
4 Simons Passage, Tipton, Staffs.
Thomas Edwards (53, Labourer, born Shrewsbury), his wife Emily (48, born Cradley Heath), and their 6 children: George (17, Labourer, born Tipton), Mary A. (15, Domestic Servant, born Tipton), Maria (14, Domestic Servant, born Tipton), Walter (13, Striker in Chainworks, born Tipton), Willie (this should be Eli) (10, born Tipton), and Evan (9, born Tipton). All children born Tipton.

1911 Census
27 Simons Passage, Tipton, Staffs.
Isaiah Hartland and his wife Ann Maria (25), their 2 children Edward and Sarah, plus brother-in-law Eli Edwards (20, Canal Boatman, born Tipton).

Personal Data

Eli was almost certainly serving as a Regular Army soldier when war was declared in August 1914, almost certainly with the 4th battalion, Worcestershire regiment. His army number of 12453 suggests that he had enlisted in May 1911, as near number 12458 enlisted on 31 May 1911. Eli would have served in India, and from early 1914 in Burma. They were re-called to England, landing in Avonmouth in February 1915 and joined the 29th Division being formed from similar battalions being recalled from around the Empire. They sailed for Gallipoli on 21 March 1915 via Egypt. They landed at Cape Helles in Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, the first day of the Gallipoli Landings.

After Eli's death, his outstanding army pay and allowances amounted to £9/17/8d (9 pounds, 17 shillings and 8 pence); this was paid to his father, Thomas, in May 1916. His War Gratuity was £5/10/0d (5 pounds and 10 shillings), this was paid in 8 equal shares to his brothers Thomas, Joseph, Walter and Evan, to his sister Ann Hartland, and to Mary Harlow and Agnes Langford in January 1920. The value of the War Gratuity suggests that Eli was a serving soldier in August 1914.

No record of any Pension payment exists, it was likely considered that no one was financially dependant upon him.

Action resulting in his death

Battle for Krithia Vineyard, 6th August 1915.
The 4th Worcesters were in action at Cape Helles in April and May 1915, but were withdrawn for a few days in a rest camp on Lemnos. They arrived back at 'W' Beach after dark on 28th July and moved to Gully Brach in preparation for action on 6th August. This was to be a subsidiary attack to the main attack from the Anzac area on the mountain of Sari Bair.

The 4th Worcesters, 800 strong, left the beach at 4.00am and moved into the assembly trenches. The Battle for Krithia Vineyard commenced at 2.20pm when the British guns started to fire, and the Turks immediately replied with shrapnel and high-explosive shells bursting all along the trenches.

In a letter written that day Ben Tromans of Cradley Heath described the scene as: "..it was not fit for a fly to get out of the trenches, for the shot and shells were flying everywhere, knocking the sand bags of the top of the trenches which we had to mount to get at the Turks".

At 3.50pm the battalion moved forward in four waves and as they crested a low rise they were cut down and what few men that reached the trenches were overcome by superior numbers of Turks in hand-to-hand fighting.

The casualties of the 4th Worcesters were given in the Regimental History as 16 Officers and 752 NCOs and Men wounded, killed or missing; this from an attacking force of approximately 800 men. During the night of 6th/7th August, a search of no-mans land brought in 300 wounded men. "Soldiers Died in the Great War" records that 359 Other Ranks were killed on 6th August, and many more would die from their wounds in subsequent days.

6 Tipton men were killed in action on that day: William Cooper, Eli Edwards, John Jackson, John Jarvis, Isaac Pagett, and Davis Summers, none have a known grave and all are commemorated on the Helles Memorial.

Newspaper Cuttings

None.