Name
Edward James Bladon
1899
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
17/05/1915
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
9143
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LE TOURET MEMORIAL
Panel 10 and 11.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor, Not on the Potten End memorials
Pre War
Edward James Bladon was born in Potten End, Hemel Hempstead in 1899, the youngest son of Joseph and Rebecca Bladon and one of 12 children, although one died in infancy and another died aged 16 in 1901.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Spring Cottage, Water End, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a Water Cress Grower.
On 19 March 1890 his father, Joseph Bladon, was found guilty, at the Quarter Sessions in Hertford, of the misdemeanour of indecent assault upon a female (Hepzibah Emily Turpin), at Great Gaddesden, Herts on 3 March 1890 and sentenced to one month's hard labour in St Alban's Prison. He had been fined on five previous occasions, between December 1888 and December 1889, twice for being drunk, once for a highway offence, once for having a dog unmuzzled and on the last occasion, for assaulting police. He was also declared bankrupt on 17 October 1894.
On the 1901 Census, Edward was living at the home of his brother-in-law William Fossey and sister Annie, with his mother and 3 siblings. He was 12 years old and his mother was working as an envelope maker. His father was not listed with them.
By the 1911 Census his mother was living with her daughter and son-in-law, Rose and Francis Harmsworth at 93 St John's Road, Hemel Hempstead (this remained her address on pension records after Edward's death) but Edward was not listed with them as he was a serving soldier with the Bedfordshire Regiment.
His father died in 1913, aged 60. His mother died in 1921 and was buried in Hemel Hempstead on 7 May 1921.
Wartime Service
Edward enlisted with the 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment sometime before 1909 and was a drummer in C Company. He was with the Battalion in Bermuda on the 1911 Census, later moving to Robert's Heights, Praetoria, South Africa the following year.
At the outbreak of war the Battalion were returned to England and arrived in Southampton in September 1914. They then left for the Western Front on board the SS Winifredian and, after stopping at Dover for supplies, arrived in Zeebrugge on 7 October 1914. They were soon in action with the Battalion suffering its first casualties on 18 October on the Menin Road, near Gheluvelt.
An article in the Hemel Hempstead Gazette in January 1915 recounts how Edward's life was saved by a pocket book during "a severe fight at Ypres". He told how they were advancing across a field when the enemy opened rapid shell fire on them and it hit the leg of the man alongside him. A small piece of shell struck him in the breast but a small book in his pocket saved it from doing any damage. He was also able to help the man who had been hit and, with the help of another soldier, managed to get him to hospital, all under almost constant fire from the enemy. (see full newspaper article at www.hemelheroes.com)
He was killed in action during the Battle of Festubert on 17 May 1915. He has no known grave but his name is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £5 and his pay owing of £16 15s 3d was divided between his mother and siblings. His older brother Hezikiah served for 13 years under Reg. No. 7732 in the Bedford Regiment and survived the war, being discharged on 18 January 1917. N.B. on Register of Soldiers' Effects surname has been mistranscribed as Bladow.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www/hemelatwar.org., www.armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com., www.hemelheroes.com
