Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of George Brown, a joiner, born on the 20th October 1865 in Soham, Cambridgeshire (son of Frederick Brown, 1836-1902 and Eliza Canham, 1834-1887) and his wife Sophia Brown (nee Palmer, married on the 2nd February 1890 in St. Andrew’s Church, Soham) born on the 24th May 1866 in Soham (daughter of Henry Palmer, 1838 and Elizabeth Fenn, 1837-1881). Edward was born on the 2nd February 1893 in Soham, his siblings were, Frederick Alfred, born on the 29th June 1891, George, born on the 18th April 1898 and Mary Louisa, born on the 1st July 1896, all his siblings were born in Soham, in March 1901 the family home was at Bushel Lane, Soham. In April 1911 Edward was employed as an apprentice house painter and was residing in the family home at Bushel Lane, Soham, together with his father, a carpenter and joiner, his mother and siblings Frederick, a market gardener, George, a schoolboy and Dorothy Elizabeth, born on the 28th July 1901 in Soham. Edward and his parents latterly resided at Queens Road, Hinckley, Leicestershire, where Edward was employed as house painter. On the 18th December 1913 Edward married Daisy Isabel Jones in the Register Office, Islington, Middlesex, after their marriage they resided at 20, London Road, Hinckley, Daisy was born on the 14th July 1892 in Bath, Somerset (the daughter of Francis England Jones, 1862-1921 and Alice Mary Hotham, 1867-1921). On the 18th May 1914 Edward and Isabel had a son, Francis George who was born in Soham, he died on the 2nd October 1914 in Walcot, Bath, Somerset. On the 24th December 1915 they had another son, Stanley Edward who was born in Newark, Nottinghamshire. On an unknown date the family moved to reside at 4, Bedford Street, Walcot, Bath. On the 4th April 1921 Daisy married William Leach in the Register Office, Aston, Birmingham, Warwickshire and they resided at 505, Lichfield Road, Aston, Birmingham.
Edward’s army service enlistment documents do not survive, therefore the currently available information pertaining to his military service has been obtained from the following sources: - 1921 HMSO Publication, Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914 - 1919, WW1 Service Medal and Award Rolls, Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, WW1 Medal Rolls Index Cards, WW1 Pension Ledgers and Index Cards and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Registers.
All that is known of Edward’s period of military service is that he had enlisted/attested in Bath, Somerset into the Corps of Royal Engineers, and had been allotted the service number 42812. He is then recorded as having been posted as a Private to the 82nd Field Company of the Royal Engineers. He first entered the theatre of war in France on the 10th October 1915 to join his unit. With the exception of the War Diary entries that relate to his unit’s movements and daily occurrences, there is no information regarding Edward’s military service, however he was promoted on an unknown date to the rank of Lance Corporal. On the 20th September 1917 he was officially reported as having been killed in action, his body was never recovered and as a consequence he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, West Vlaanderen, Belgium.
Edward was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal, but the medal award roll was annotated with the following information in red ink: - Retd. 992 K.R. C.R.V. 492/B d/7/2/24. 8426/adt. This would indicate that the medals were not accepted by his widow.
On the 5th April 1918 Edward’s widow was awarded an Army Pension for herself and her son, of eighteen shillings and nine pence, to commence on the 8th April 1918.
The War Diary records: 20 Sep-17 – VIERSTRAAT. The attack was launched at 5.40am and after a little delay all the objectives were gained. At first it was not possible to work on the S.P. in daylight but about noon a small digging party from No. 12 Section made a start on No.1 S.P. No.3 Section marked out their S.P. but were unable to do any work on it. At night No.4 Section and 50 infantry came up and completed No.1 S.P., and No.1 Section dug No.2 S.P. Great difficulty was experienced in finding the way to No.2 S.P. and a party of 50 infantry lost their way and could not be used. The Machine Gun post on the Railway Embankment was started early and completed. Casualties. Killed 2 ROYAL ENGINEERS. 2 attached Infantry. Wounded. 6 ROYAL ENGINEERS. 8 attached Infantry.