Name
Edward Hedley (poss Hadley) Cuthbertson
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
24/07/1917
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
Royal Warwickshire Regiment
9th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
AMARA WAR CEMETERY
XIII. L. 6.
Iraq
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Bushey Town Memorial, St James’ Church Memorial, Bushey
Pre War
Born on 15th December 1889 at 59 Fairholt Road, Stoke Newington, Edward Hedley Cuthbertson was the eldest son of Edward Hedley, and Alice (née Munro) Cuthbertson. Their marriage was recorded (Q2 1887) in the Hackney registration district.
Edward (Snr.) was a stockbroker and the family lived at 13 Devonshire Place and 67 Portland Place, London. While retaining a home near central London, Edward (Snr.) also became a significant landowner in Bushey, Hertfordshire and, from 1900, the Cuthbertson family lived at Bushey House, where they hosted magnificent garden parties in the grounds.
Edward was educated at Winchester House School in Eastbourne and Malvern College. From there he went on to Clare College, Cambridge, where he gained a ‘blue’ for Association football and played cricket for his university. In 1908 he travelled to New York with his father and younger brother, Hugh, and to Canada in 1910. By then he had begun a career in the City and he became a member of the Stock Exchange. In 1912 he married Mary Constance (Doddie) Williams.
The Cuthbertson family left Bushey House shortly after his marriage and they were living at 51 Egerton Crescent, Kensington in 1914.
Wartime Service
In August 1914, Edward enlisted in the Public Schools Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers and gained a commission as a Lieutenant in the Warwickshire Regiment.
He went to France in March 1915 and was wounded at Ypres a few weeks later. Returning to France, he was invalided home again in July 1916 and after a period of convalescence in England, was sent to Mesopotamia. He was admitted to the British Hospital in Amara on 20 July 1917 and died on 24 July 1917, aged 28.
He was buried in Amara War Cemetery in Iraq and is commemorated on the Bushey Memorial on Clay Hill and on the plaque in St James’ Church, Bushey. He is also commemorated on the Malvern College WW1 War Memorial.
Edward and Mary Cuthbertson had two daughters, Pamela, born in June 1915 and Suzanne in June 1917. Mary re-married after the war in 1920 and she and Francis B Follett had two children.
The following is an entry in the Malvernian, Nov 1917:
“Hedley Cuthbertson's school-life at Malvern of 4.5 years was marked by two chief characteristics, his success as an athlete, and his marked independence of character. At football and cricket generally he reached a good Eleven standard, while his wicket keeping was something better. In fact wicket keeping was exactly suited to his temperament. It called out all his skill, and entailed no bustle; for he was one of those who could not be bustled. But his strong will and his kindly disposition were the chief causes of the affection that his school friends entertained for him at School and afterwards, and which endears his memory to them now.”
Additional Information
Information provided with the kind permission of Bushey First World War Commemoration Project – Please visit www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
