Name
Edwin Frederick Mead
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
23/05/1918
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Corporal
C/9420
King’s Royal Rifle Corps
18th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ESQUELBECQ MILITARY CEMETERY
II. D. 16.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Croxley Green Village Memorial, Croxley Green,
All Saints' Church Shrine, Croxley Green,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Croxley Mill, Croxley Green,
Rickmansworth Urban District Memorial,
Oddfellows Memorial, Rickmansworth,
Not listed on the Hertford memorials
Pre War
Edwin was the third son of George and Fanny Mead of 179 New Road. They also had a daughter. He was born on 7 October 1897 and christened in Croxley Green a month later. George worked as a labourer at the paper mill and Edwin joined him there when he was old enough. Edwin’s older brother Ernest was killed in May 1917.
Recorded as born in Hertford and living in Croxley Green when he enlisted in London.
Wartime Service
Corporal Edwin Mead served in the 20th KRRC and then transferred to the 18th KRRC, which was part of 122nd Brigade in 41st Division.
He died of wounds on 23 May 1918, aged 20. He is buried at Esquelbecq Military Cemetery between Dunkirk and St Omer.
Esquelbecq was the location of casualty clearing stations from April 1918 during the early stages of the German offensive in Flanders. He may have been one of the three men who were injured the previous day whilst in working parties at Siege Camp. Before that the 41st Division had been in action at Beugny on March 23rd–24th 1918 and again at Arras on 28th March.
According to the Oddfellows’ memorial, Edwin was a bugler.
Additional Information
Brother of Lance Corporal Ernest Mead who died of wounds on 23 May 1918 and who is also commemorated on this memorial.
We believe that Edwin Frederick Mead appears as E F Mean on the Croxley Green Village Memorial and Frederick Mead on the All Saints' Church Shrine, Croxley Green.
Acknowledgments
Malcolm Lennox, Tanya Britton, Brian Thomson, Croxley Green in the First World War, Rickmansworth Historical Society 2014
