Percy Edeson
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Percy was the son of Frederick and Susannah Edeson. Although a Worksop born man, Frederick Edeson and his wife, Susannah, were living at Brightside, Sheffield, when they had their first three children. The family moved back to Worksop around 1880, where Frederick was working as a timber carter living at 23 Priorswell Road. It was in here in Worksop, that Percy Edeson, their fifth child was born in 1885. The Edeson’s had eight children over their married lifetime, which was until 1902, when the wife and mother, Susannah, died in 1902 age 54. Frederick remarried in 1906 to Rose Mellars and in 1911 they were occupying 1 Union Street, Eastgate. Meanwhile, Percy had also married. The wedding was in Worksop in 1905 and his bride was Kate Marks. Within the next few years, the couple had moved to Sheffield where Percy was working as a coal miner.. The 1911 census showed them to have two children but neither was resident in the home on the night of the census
1st Bn King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Percy was killed on 30 April 1915. He is buried in the Perth Cemetery (China Wall), Belgium (grave ref. VII.A.18). The history of the cemetery and location of Percy's grave (Plot VII) suggests that his grave was brought in to this cemetery after the Armistice. CWGC - History of Perth Cemetery (China Wall) extract: 'The cemetery was begun by French troops in November 1914 (the French graves were removed after the Armistice) and adopted by the 2nd Scottish Rifles in June 1917. It was called Perth (as the predecessors of the 2nd Scottish Rifles were raised in Perth), China Wall (from the communication trench known as the Great Wall of China), or Halfway House Cemetery. The cemetery was used for front line burials until October 1917 when it occupied about half of the present Plot I and contained 130 graves. It was not used again until after the Armistice, when graves were brought in from the battlefields around Ypres and from the following smaller cemeteries [listed].' (www.cwgc.org)
CWGC - Son of Frederick and Hannah Edeson, of Kilton Rd., Worksop; husband of Kate Edeson, of 70, John St., Worksop. Pte. Percy Edeson Worksop Guardian 28 May 1915 News was received this week of the death of Pte Percy Edeson, of the K.O.Y.L.I. Killed in action in France on April 30th. Pte Edeson, who was 30 years of age, was the son of Mr Frederick Edeson, of Eastgate, Worksop, and some six years ago he left Worksop to work at Brodsworth Colliery, Doncaster. He enlisted in the K.O.Y.L.I. after war broke out and with only six months training, he was sent to the front with the 1st Battalion of that well known regiment. He leaves a widow and one young child, and the sorrowful news of his death was conveyed to her in a sympathetic letter signed by Lord Kitchener. Research by Colin Dannatt
