Edward Ernest Grimwade was born on 16 December 1885 in Blythe Bridge, Staffordshire, the third of the four children of Sidney Richard Grimwade (1854-1934) and Minnie Ellen Grimwade née Thompson (1856-1893). His birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1886 in the Stone Registration District, Staffordshire.
He was shown on the 1891 census as aged 5 years and a scholar living at Holderslea House, Blythe Bridge, Stone, Staffordshire, with his parents and his three siblings: Sidney Wilfred Grimwade (1883-1957); Amy Langdon Grimwade (1884-1967) and Hugh Stanley Grimwade (1889-1975). His father was described as a commission agent.
His mother died on 23 January 1893 and in the 2nd quarter of 1900 his father married Agnes Mary Ellis Illingworth (186-1921).
In the 1901 census he was shown as aged 15 years and living at Meadowcroft, Oxford Road, Wolstanton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, with his father, his step-mother and his brother, Sidney, together with a female domestic servant. His father was shown as an earthenware manufacturer.
De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour, 1914-1919 confirms his date of birth and shows that he was educated at: Newcastle High School, Newcastle-under-Lyme; Dr Lünge's School, Hamburg, Germany; the Ecole de Commerce, Neuchâtel, Switzerland and Caius College, Cambridge. He was employed at the Jetties under the Commissioners at the Port of Calcutta (now Kolkata), India.
On 12 November 1914 he married Dorothy Georgina Smith (1893-1985) at St Albans Church, Bournemouth, Hampshire (now Dorset), where in the marriage register he is shown aged 29 years, a bachelor and an assistant secretary, Calcutta Port Services residing at Tregona, Linwood Road, Bournemouth, whilst his wife was described as aged 21 years, a spinster also living at Tregona, Linwood Road, the daughter of George James Smith, retired Indian Service. Their daughter, Pauline Dorothy Jameson Grimwade (1916-1996) was born on 1 January 1916.
The London Gazette shows that on 13 March 1915 he obtained a commission as a Second Lieutenant (on probation) in the 3rd Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers. The London Gazette shows that on 6 December 1915 that as a Second Lieutenant (on probation) he was confirmed in rank on the Lancashire Fusiliers. He served with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force from 23 October 1915 in both Gallipoli and Egypt before proceeding to France. He was attached to his regiment's 9th Battalion when he was killed in action, aged 30 years, on 17 September 1916 at Courcelette, France. As he has no known grave he is commemorated on Pier and Face 3 C and 3 D of the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, Rue de l'Ancre, 80300 Thiepval, France.
Probate records confirm his address as Tregona, Linwood Road, Bournemouth and that when probate was granted to his father-in-law on 13 March 1917, his effects totalled £751-1s-1d. On 2 July 1919 his army effects totalling £39-0s-0d were sent to his father-in-law who was also sent his £5-0s-0d war gratuity on 17 September 1919. He was posthumously awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal and these were sent to his widow in 1922 to Tregona, 35 Linwood Road, Bournemouth. His widow was in 1928 married to Lieutenant General Sir Ernest Edward Down, KBE, CB. (1902-1980).
He is shown as 'EDWARD E. GRIMWADE' on both the Highgate Camp war memorial inside the gate at 107 Swains Lane, London, N6 and on the Highgate United Reform Church war memorial on the forecourt at Pond Square, London, N6. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website and on the A Street Near You website.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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