Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
The War Diary for today records. At 11.12am orders were received that the attack would shortly be renewed on both banks. In the meantime enemy’s line was subjected to bombardment from 28th Bty ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY. Orders were received to renew the attack at 2.00pm, the Battn moving forward as soon as 53rd SIKHS were seen to leave their trenches. The 92nd PUNJABIS had now been attached to the Bde to support the attack on the left of the Battn. A and B Coy’s advanced in short sharp rushes, supported by C Coy, D Coy being kept close up in reserve under cover. The advance progressed in spite of very strong opposition and D Coy was thrown in, the whole Battn finally carrying out the assault successfully over about 300 yards. Two of the Battn machine guns pushed along the nullah X Y towards X, greatly assisted the advance in first enfilading Turkish trench P and later distributing their fire along trench Q. The Battn was splendidly supported throughout by one section of the 28th Bty ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY, the F.O.O. advancing with his telephone immediately in rear of the Battn. The enemy’s trenches were occupied and quickly put in a state of defence, while, from both ends of these trenches a line of entrenchments was extended for some considerable distance, the left flank being well turned back. About 80 prisoners were taken by the Battn, and a large quantity of rifles, ammunition, equipment etc. Many dead and wounded Turks were found in the trenches. The Battn buried 62 enemy dead on its section of trenches. Enemy sniped to some extent during the night from our left flank. The following casualties among officers occurred during this days operations. Officers killed Lt DOWDING and Lt ROYCE. Wounded Capt SUTHERLAND, 2nd Lt BILLINGS, 2nd Lt BELLE and 2nd Lt BUCKINGHAM. Other ranks killed and wounded on operations of the 6th and 7th January totalled 303.

Source: Leicestershire War Memorials Project.
Coalville Times article - Friday February 18th, 1916

FOUR COALVILLE SOLDIERS KILLED

2ND LEICESTERSHIRE REGIMENTS LOSSES AT THE PERSIAN GULF

We regret to learn that the 2nd Leicestershire Regiment, which was so prominent, and suffered heavily in the battle of Neuve Chapelle, and at Loos, has sustained further heavy casualties in the fighting at the Persian Gulf, and among the number officially reported killed, so far as we have been able to ascertain upto the present, are four Coalville soldiers. They are Privates S. Hardy, Hotel Street, E. H. Hunt, Victoria Road, and G. Wilkinson and J. Copley, both of Margaret Street. All belonged to the 2nd Leicesters, and are reported to have been killed at the Persian Gulf during January.

The sad news has just reached Mr and Mrs Hunt, of Victoria Road, Coalville, that their second son, Edward Henry, has been killed in action in the vicinity of the Tigris and the Persian Gulf. The Rev. J. Degan writes: “Flavius Josephus the Jewish soldier-historian, declares that the Tigris, or as it is sometimes called, the Diglath, (which means narrow and rapid) was one of the four rivers which watered the Gardens of Eden, in the days of Adam and Eve. It will, doubtless, prove a little consoling to the relatives of those brave second Leicesters who have gone under in the recent fighting, with their forces, we may be sure, towards the enemy, to reflect that the mortal remains of their beloved ones rest in ground which is hallowed by its having been selected by God for the cradle of the human race, and the earthly paradise of our first parents.”
Edward Hunt was born in Whitwick, but spent most of his life in Coalville. He was only 20 years of age. His great friend, George Bennett, was killed in action last year in France. Both lads, like many thousands of other youths, left the comforts and solace of a good home, as soon as the dread news was proclaimed that war with all its horrors and terrors had broken out, and the liberty and safety of our empire were imperilled.

A special memorial service will be held at the Holy Cross Church, Whitwick, on Sunday, 20th February, at 3 pm, for the eternal repose of the soul of the late Edward Hunt. The Citizens’ Corps have kindly consented to be present, and Father Degan will preach the panegyric.

Coalville Times article - Friday February 25th, 1916

MEMORIAL SERVICE AT WHITWICK

SERMON BY FATHER DEGEN

On Sunday afternoon, at the Holy Cross Church, Whitwick, a memorial and requiem service was held in honour of the late Pte. Edward Hunt, of Victoria Road, Coalville, and formerly of Whitwick, who was recently killed in action in Mesopotamia. The first part of the service was conducted by Father O’Reilly and consisted of the penitential psalms, prayers and ceremonies customary at a Catholic funeral. The catafalque, which represented the coffin, was blessed with holy water and incensed. The Dead March in Saul was then played and afterwards two boy scouts stepped forward and sounded “The Last Post.” The Whitwick Citizen Corps presented arms before the catafalque. This was followed by the hymn, “Oh, Paradise” in which the whole congregation joined, and which formed a joyful and dramatic contrast to the earlier note of lamentation and mourning predominant in the first part of the service. The sermon was preached by the Rev. J. Degen, of St. Saviour’s Church, Coalville, from the text, “It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins.” (2 Maccabees xii, 46). Father Degen spoke as follows: “We are assembled here this afternoon for a two-fold purpose. First to render public homage to the memory of Edward Henry Hunt, who, like many hundreds of other young men from all parts of the Empire, has made the supreme sacrifice of his life in the cause of honour, justice, peace, freedom and patriotism. Secondly, by our united intercessions to obtain from God the hastening of that moment when the soul of our friend shall be admitted into the joy and happiness of the Beautiful Vision. It is fitting that the avowed we make of our respectful admiration of his heroic conduct should be as public and as solemn as possible. For he is our benefactor and we are his debtors. It was for your sakes and for my sake that he left the comforts and quiet of a happy house to sacrifice his life in the very spring-time of his youth, in the bloom and blossom of his age, during just that period of human existence when everything seems to be so full of charm and of sweetness. For the world does appear fascinating and entrancing, it does indeed wear a rosy and beautiful complexion to a youth of but 19 or 20 summers. Far more so than to those of more mature years, who have experienced some of these reverses and mischances of fortune, which disillusion the mind and damp the ardour of early youth. But to a young man, on the threshold of early manhood, everything appears to be smiling and gay, his path seems smooth and easy, sunny and bright, all flowers and but few thorns, full of hope and full of promise. The surrender of life just when life tastes sweetest, enhances the merit of the sacrifice made. Edward Hunt was born in Whitwick, he was baptised here, he made his first confession and first communion here, and here it was too that he was confirmed. Nevertheless, he spent most of his life in Coalville. He was a member of the Sanctuary Guild at St. Saviour’s, both under Father Quilter and myself, and later enjoined the recreation circle of St. Francis de Sales. He bore a high character among all those who knew him, being pre-eminent for his generosity and sociability. He also adhered most faithfully to his religious duties, to Sunday Mass, and monthly holy communion. He was one of those whom I looked forward to as the hope of the future for the Catholic Church in Coalville. But he has run his course, he had fulfilled his task. His death on the battlefield is one more proof that where self-sacrifice is needed by the State in the cause of national honour, rights and liberties, Catholics are among the first to come forward and surrender, if need be, their last shilling and their last drop of blood. His death is one more proof that loyalty to the Pope, as the spiritual head of the Church, in no wise weakens or diminishes our allegiance to our King, the temporal sovereign of our dominions. Edward Hunt took part in several fierce battles in Flanders and Northern France, and on many occasions saw men falling thick around him in lifeless heaps upon the ground. He himself, however, was not even wounded. After a severe attack of pneumonia, he was invalided home, and four months ago was sent out to Egypt, whence he crossed more than one desert, and at length reached Nasiriya, an Arabian village on the Euphrates in Mesopotamia. With other men of the second Leicesters, he was sent forward on an expedition along a water course, the Shat-el-Hai, which leads to Kut-el-Amara, where General Townshend is besieged, and which connects the Euphrates with the Tigris. The object of this reconnaissance was to obtain information concerning the intentions of the nomadic Arab tribes. It appears that our men received from them assurances of neutrality and peacefulness. But on their return journey to give in their report, our men unsuspecting and confiding, were treacherously shot down by those same natives, who had previously pretended to be friendly.

To him whose memory we are honouring this afternoon we must express our unbounded indebtedness for the great sacrifice he has made in our defence of our rights and interests. Those of us who are Catholics know that we are not entirely bankrupt in the matter of rendering him some practical return for what he has done. By our prayers, communions, acts of mortification, in fact by any good notions whatsoever, we can ask Almighty God to hasten the moment when our benefactor will be admitted into everlasting bliss. We have every reason to believe that the sentence of the just has been pronounced upon him, but it may be that this sentence will be suspended, until his soul is cleansed of all the stains and imperfections which it may have contracted in its pilgrimage through this vale of tears. The words of my text are based on the principle of vicarious satisfaction. It is consoling to think that we are still united with the dead by the golden link of prayer. These waiting souls suffer patiently, sweetly and peacefully. It will also console the bereaved relatives of the 2nd Leicesters to know that the mortal remains of their beloved ones lie buried in what was the Garden of Eden. In the second chapter of Genesis, the Tigris and Euphrates are expressly mentioned as flowing through the earthly paradise of our first parents. One final topic for consolation, and I have done. Death for those who die in a state of friendship with God, who die in the fulfilment of their duty is not a matter for sighs, tears and groans. ‘Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished for. Death under such circumstances can mean nothing else than the passage, sooner or later, to a happy immortality. It means the return of the soul to God, to whom it really belongs, and who alone can quench its thirst for complete and lasting happiness. Death to one who is just and righteous possesses nothing about it but what is eminently desirable. Why then this “solemn black?” Why “the fruitful river in the eye?” Why the “dejected behaviour of the visage?” Why all the “forms and moods and shows of grief,” and all “the trappings and the suits of woe,” when he, for whom we are praying, is not lost, but saved? If he, whom we love so dearly, is happy in the knowledge that the sentence of the just has been pronounced upon him, why should we lament and weep? Rather let us stifle our sighs and dry our tears and rejoice and be glad in the conviction that one more soul has been judged worthy by God of citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

The service closed with the Benediction. The mourners were Mr and Mrs Hunt, Mrs Williamson and family, and Mrs King and family. The church was crowded to its utmost capacity, the congregation consisting of quite as many non-Catholics as Catholics. Among the latter were noticed Mr and Mrs de Lisle from Garendon and Mr J. R. Bennett, of Coalville.

Coalville Times article - Friday February 15th, 1918

WAR MEMORIAL UNVEILED AT WHITWICK

TABLET IN HOLY CROSS CHURCH

The Bishop of Nottingham, the Rev. Father Dunn, unveiled a memorial tablet in the Whitwick Holy Cross Church, on Sunday containing the names of 12 men, formerly connected with the church, who have made the supreme sacrifice in the war. The names and dates each recorded on small square bronze plates, and fixed on the tablet in three columns, are as follows:

Private James Cairns, Connaught Rangers, killed in action, August 21st, 1915.
Private A. C. Johnstone, 8th Leicesters, killed in action, September 1st, 1915.
Sapper B. Whittaker, 2nd Leicesters, killed in action, September 25th, 1915.
Private Edward Jarvis, Grenadier Guards, killed in action, October 17th, 1915.
Private Ed Hunt, 2nd Leicesters, killed in action, January 7th, 1916.
Private C. Stanford, 8th Leicesters, killed in action, July 14th, 1916.
Private Jos. Sheffield, 2nd Leicesters, killed in action, September 26th, 1916.
Lance-Corporal B. Morley, 2nd Leicesters, killed in action, April 23rd, 1917.
Private Harold Edwin Ketcher, 12th Northumberland Fusiliers, killed in action, June 16th, 1917
Corporal A. Concannon, M.M. Sherwood Foresters, killed in action, July 31st, 1917.
Private William Beasley, 1st Leicesters, killed in action, September 11th, 1917.
Rifleman L. Haywood, Scottish Rifles, torpedoed at sea, December 30th, 1917.

The tablet, which is surmounted by a crucifix, reads, “In memory of our devoted heroes who fell in the great war. Your prayers are requested for the repose of the souls of (names)”.

At the foot appear the words, “May they rest in peace.” Space is left for the addition of any further names if this becomes necessary. There was a large congregation, including the relatives of the deceased soldiers, and after the unveiling, a memorial service was held. This was conducted by the Rev. M. J. O’Reilly, assisted by Father Degan of Coalville, and the Bishop preached the sermon.

St Saviour’s Bulletin

Vol. 1. November 1928 No. 4.

Published by Father Degen, The Catholic Church, Coalville, Leicester

Price – One Penny.

St. Saviour’s Roll of Honour

Edward Henry Hunt.
Joseph Sheffield.
Francis Edward Stafford.
Harold Edwin Ketcher.
William Ducksbury.
Allan Thorpe.
George Herbert Saddington.
Arthur Lovell.
John Mulrooney.

How vain is the wealth of flowers,
How vain is the mourner’s wreath,
How useless the marble tombstone,
To the dust that lies beneath.

How futile the empty praises,
How futile the tears that fall,
The sable and crape of mourning,
How empty and vain are all!

The voice of the dead is calling,
All through the wealth of flowers,
Not for our grief and tears.

Our own, our lost, our lov’d ones,
Oh! Could we but hear them speak;
Prayer is the flower they ask for,
Prayer is the wealth they seek.

More dear than the flower-lit grasses-
The fragrant churchyard sod-
One prayer for their souls to Jesus,
One prayer to the heart of God.

We can open the gates of heaven
By the wondrous key of prayer,
That the suffering souls may enter
The joy that awaits them there.

Research undertaken and submitted (including photograph from Coalville Times) by Andy Murby, 12/10/2017