Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of William Edward Harrison an insurance agent, born 1864 in Bitteswell, Leics., and his wife Fanny, born 1860 in Great Houghton, Northants. Edward George was born in 1898 in Leicester, he had one sibling, a sister Dorothy Kate, born 1891 in Great Houghton, Northants., in March 1901 the family home was at 5, Roslyn Street, Leicester. In April 1911 Edward was a scholar and was residing in the family home at 5, Roslyn Street, Leicester, together with his parents, who had been married for 21 years, and his sister Dorothy, who was now employed as a commercial clerk. Edward attended Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys between the years 1908 and 1912 and was recorded in a Roll of Honour of former pupils that was published on the 31st January 1921. Edward originally enlisted in the 7th Battalion Cheshire Regiment and at some point was transferred to the 13th Battalion Welsh Regiment. The War Diary of the 13th Battalion records. 22 Aug-18 – Mesnil Sector. Everyone very busy with preparations. Situation quiet.
23 Aug-18 – Mesnil Sector. Battalion temporarily split up between the 14th and 15th Welsh. Officers in BHQ (Battalion Headquarters) proceeded to Brigade Headquarters as liaison officers. 24 Aug-18-Mesnil Sector. Brigade advanced across the ANCRE. Many prisoners taken by us. Brigade HQ in MESNIL. 25 Aug-18- Brigade HQ crossed the ANCRE and proceeded to POZIERES. The War Diary of the 14th Battalion records. 25 Aug-18-4.00am Battalion attacked position North West of BAZENTIN LE PETIT, but after an advance of 2,000 yards was made was held up by heavy machine gun fire, in x 6 c and x 12 a. Defensive line established in x 6 c and x 12 a. The War Diary of the 15th Battalion records. 25 Aug-18- At 12.15am Battalion left POZIERES and advanced 400 yards in the direction of BAZENTIN LE PETIT. At 4.30am battalion advanced in the direction of HIGH WOOD – BAZENTIN. Here battalion was held up by enemy fire and withdrew to a line 500 yards from ALBERT – BAPAUME ROAD to 1300 yards West of BAZENTIN, joining here with 14th WELSH. Battalion HQ POZIERES WINDMILL. Brigade then went into DIVISIONAL RESERVE. 3 officers wounded 30 other ranks wounded. The 38th (Welsh) Division of which the 10th, 13th, 14th and 15th Battalions of the Welsh Regiment formed the 114th Brigade recorded in its Official History the following. On the night of the 22nd/23rd the 113th Brigade moved through Albert across the reconstructed bridges which were under continual shell fire and formed up within 100 yards of the enemy on a frontage of 450 yards, in the angle between the Albert-Bapaume Road and the Ancre; in order to do this it was necessary for both attacking battalions to debouch from Albert by the Bapaume Road and then execute a flank movement to their left; this difficult manoeuvre was successfully carried out, led by the 13th Royal Welsh Fusiliers the attack was launched at 4.45 am on the 23rd against the hill one mile north east of Albert, known as Unsa Hill: the position was captured and 194 prisoners, three guns and seven machine guns were taken. The crossing of the 115th Brigade was made possible by the action of two small parties the next day (23rd). The site of the bridge at Aveluy where the 115th Brigade must cross was under fire from a spur to the south, where the enemy had two well known posts. Lieutenant Connell of “A” Company, 13th Royal Welsh Fusiliers, after their successful attack that morning captured one of these posts and the seven machine guns in it. The other spot was taken on by “A” Company, 2nd Royal Welsh Fusiliers, under 2nd Lieutenant J. O. Smith M.C., who made several attempts to cross the river and floods below Aveluy; he at last found a way across in small parties and eventually rushed the post, killing or capturing thirty of the enemy and taking eight machine guns. The following night (23rd/24th) the two remaining companies of the 15th Welsh (Swansea Battalion) joined the two companies of the 15th and the six sections of the 14th who had been holding on to their positions for over 36 hours; the few existing foot bridges across the Ancre and the adjacent swamps had been repaired during the previous night and day by the 123rd Field Company, R.E., under continuous rifle fire, but during the crossing these bridges broke down and the majority of the 14th had to wade, in some cases up to their necks; while they were forming up for attack on the eastern bank they were themselves counter-attacked by the enemy, but drove them off. Meanwhile two battalions of the 115th Brigade had crossed the Ancre at Aveluy, over a bridge made by the 151st Field Company, R.E., under the supervision of Lieutenant’s Denning and Butler, and formed up on a one battalion frontage on the left of the 113th Brigade. At 1.00 am the attack was launched and the 114th Brigade stormed the heights and took Thiepval; the 113th Brigade had some hard fighting around La Boiselle and the 115th Brigade near Orvillers; the subsequent advance of the 114th Brigade was not quite so strongly opposed and the bulk of the prisoners fell to them and the mopping up battalion of the 115th Brigade. By 4.00 pm the Division had reached a north and south line east of Ovillers and had captured in this day’s operations 634 prisoners and 143 machine guns. The following night all the Field Artillery (which included the 62nd Divisional Artillery) succeeded in crossing the Ancre over bridges made by the 123rd and 151st Field Companies, R.E., preparatory to supporting a further advance, and during the evening of the 24th the 113th Brigade pushed on and took Contalmaison and the other two Brigades reached Pozieres. General Rhys Price had a narrow escape this evening on his entry into Contalmaison; a pocket of the enemy had been overlooked by our troops on the high ground just west of the site of the village and opened a heavy fire on the Brigadier and his headquarters as they were riding along the road about 400 yards away.During the attack on Contalmaison 2nd Lieutenant K. R. T. Low, with No. 1 Section “C” Machine Gun Company, captured a post of thirty five men and two machine guns by engaging the post from the front with his guns while half the section worked round the flank acting as infantry. The following day (25th) after practically no rest the Division advanced with all three brigades in line closely followed by the Artillery; the enemy were found to be holding in strength the line Mametz Wood-the site of Bazentin le Petit Village-Bois des Foureaux (known by the British as “High Wood” since the days of the Somme battles of 1916). After some stiff fighting the 113th Brigade captured Mametz Wood, the 2nd Royal Welsh Fusiliers and 10th South Wales Borderers captured Bazentin le Petit, and the 14th and 15th Welsh captured the heights south of Martinpuich but found “High Wood” so strongly held in such a commanding position that no impression could be made upon it until the 113th and 115th Brigades should make a further advance. In order to launch this attack on Bazentin le Petit the 115th Brigade had to march to their assembly position by compass bearing across open and very broken country in the pitch dark; this march was led by Lieutenant Colonel Cockburn, and the whole Brigade reached their allotted positions punctually at dawn. The 114th Brigade were in a very difficult position for the remainder of this day and night, for their line was commanded by the enemy’s position at High Wood and they were counter-attacked several times. To conclude, Edward would have been allotted to either the 14th or 15th Battalion and would therefore have been part of the advance described in the Divisional History, he would have lost his life in an area over which the 114th Brigade advanced in pursuit of an enemy now fighting a desperate rearguard action, the fact that Edward has no known grave and therefore cannot be positively identified with a particular area, makes sad reading, however an enigma exists, that whereas the vast majority of the fallen on the Somme with no know grave are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing of the Somme, Edward is recorded on the Vis en Artois Memorial in the Pas de Calais. Edward’s service record did not survive, however his medal index card shows that he was awarded the British and Victory medals, the fact that he did not receive the 1915 Star would indicate that he entered the theatre of war sometime after 1915.