Name
Edward Burden Minter
11 Apr 1891
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
17/02/1917
23
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
50400
London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles)
11th (City of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 8 C 9 A and 16 A.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
St Lawrence Church Memorial Plaque, Bovingdon, Memorial Hall Memorial Plaque, Bovingdon, St Paul's Church Memorial Roll, Hemel Hempstead (now lost), Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial
Pre War
Edward Burden Minter was born on 11 Apr 1891 in Penge/Annerley, (Croydon) Surrey and baptised on 2 Aug 1891 in Bovingdon, the son of Edward Burden and Joanna (Seebrook) Minter later of 75 Cowper Road, Boxmoor. He was their second child and one of ten children, two of whom died in infancy.
The family were living in Green Lane, Bovingdon in 1901 when his father was working as a painter. By 1911 they had moved to Church Street, Bovingdon and Edward was working as a Builder's carter.
He married Emily Florence Lee on 15 November 1913 at St Paul’s Church, Hemel Hempstead and they lived at 5 Adeyfield Cottages, Hemel Hempstead, the home of Emily's parents. They later had two sons, Stanley (1914) and Herbert (1917). Edward's parents later moved from Bovingdon to Cowper Road, Boxmoor.
Wartime Service
Edward was called up and enlisted at Hemel Hempstead in March 1916, joining the Royal Fusiliers (City of London) Regiment.
After basic training he was went to France on 28 September 1916 and was initially posted to the 26th Battalion and saw action at the Battle of Transloy Ridge. He was then transferred to the 11th Battalion and immediately went into action on the Somme in the Battle of Ancre in early 1917. In preparation for an attack on the German positions the Battalion then moved to Miraumont.
He was killed in action on 17 February 1917 when the Battalion were advancing and were cut down by heavy machine gun fire which resulted in every company officer being killed or wounded before they reached the German trenches only a short distance away. The accuracy of enemy fire was noted in the Battalion War Diary which recorded that "Throughout the Operation it was remarkable the high percentage of men that were hit through the head, showing beyond a doubt that these Germans who had to meet us were no mean marksmen".
Edward has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £2 14s 7d. She also received a pension of £1 2s 11d a week for herself and her two boys. He is incorrectly recorded on the Hemel Hempstead Memorial as F Minter, which should be Edward Minter.
*1 Believed more correctly, (County of London)
Bn. London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles).
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Malcolm Lennox, Dick West, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org.
