Name
Leonard Aynge Edens
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
18/03/1918
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
Royal Newfoundland Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
HARLEBEKE NEW BRITISH CEMETERY
XII. B. 8.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
St Edmunds College Memorial, Old Hall Green
Biography
The following text was transcribed from The Edmundian (1814-1819) – The contemporary magazine of St Edmund’s College:
At the last moment before going to press we have recently received certain news of the death of yet another of our boys, Leonard Edens. The news reaches us through Mr. O'Neill Conroy. of St. Johns, Newfoundland. Leonard Aynge Edens was at St. Edmund's College for something over two years, leaving at Easter, 1910. He was tall, well made, lithe, after the manner of so many who hail from Newfoundland and the further reaches of the Empire. One clear memory of him pictures him on the ice during one of those short, precious spells of skating, making the most of the short-lived frost, bringing to the ice that ease and grace and speed in skating to which we, whose winters are short and bleak, can never aspire. As a student, he showed much talent, and gave promise of great success. Following his bent, he began, after leaving school, a long course of study of electrical engineering; this course was all but finished at the time of the outbreak of war.
Early in 1915 he enlisted in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, was very soon commissioned, and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. Here his expert knowledge of engineering technique stood him in great stead, enabling him to do invaluable work. For more than a year he was an instructor.
Towards the end of last year he went to France, and in March last came the news that he was "missing;" two aeroplanes had come down behind the enemy lines, and one pilot was killed, and the other (now known to have been Leonard Edens) was taken prisoner.
Early in May it was announced officially that the Prisoners of War Committee had received news from Copenhagen that he had died in enemy hands. His friends and relatives are assured of Edmundian prayers for him, and of Edmundian sympathy for them in their loss, which is the more grievous as being the second of its kind ; for we hear that a brother of Leonard died of wounds early in this year.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Di Vanderson, The Edmundian (1814-1819) – The contemporary magazine of St Edmund’s College
