Edward Swallow (MM)

Name

Edward Swallow (MM)

Conflict

First World War

Date of Death / Age

01/04/1918
30

Rank, Service Number & Service Details

Private
8410
Northamptonshire Regiment
5th Bn.

Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards

Not Yet Researched
Military Medal

Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country

POZIERES MEMORIAL
Panel 54 to 56.
France

Headstone Inscription

Not Researched

UK & Other Memorials

Standon War Memorial,
St Mary’s Church Memorial, Standon,
Puckeridge Memorial Plaque, Standon Village Hall, Standon,
St Mary’s Church Memorial, Ware,
Christchurch Memorial, Ware,
Ware Town Memorial,
Not on the Buntingford memorials

Pre War

Son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Swallow, of 86, Watton Rd., Ware, Herts.

Recorded as born in Buntingford and enlisting in Ware.

Wartime Service

Killed in action.

Biography

Edward Swallow was a Private, No. 8410 in the Northamptonshire Regiment.  He died 1st April 1918 at the age of 30.

He is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, Somme, France, on Panel 54 – 56.  He was a holder of the Military Medal.

Edward was born 22nd December 1887 in Little Hormead, which was also the birthplace of his mother and elder brother.  His father, John ‘Jack’ Swallow was born in Standon, his father married, Minnie (nee Ginn) in 1885.  The family lived in Paper Mill Lane for over twenty years, and had nine children, six boys and three girls, but lost their youngest child, Edgar at the age of 21 months in 1905.

Father John Swallow originally gave his occupation as an agricultural labourer in 1891, but for the subsequent two census returns he is shown as an engine driver.  This may have been a steam threshing engine, but he could possibly have been a railway engine driver.

Edward was born in 1888 and was baptised on 12th August that year.  He was the second child of this growing family and at the age of 13 in 1901 he was no longer at school but was an errand boy.  Luckily his service record has survived so we know quite a lot about Edward – perhaps more than he would want us to, as he was something of a rebel and seemed to like a few drinks.  He was obviously a brave soldier as he was awarded the Military Medal but it seems he must have had a problem with authority.  He actually joined the army in 1907, long before the ‘great war’ was even thought of.  Perhaps he could see that agricultural work was declining with the advent of mechanisation and made an alternative career choice.

He was just over 19 years old when he joined up and he is described as   5’ 6” in height, 9 stone in weight, 34 ½ in chest, fresh complexion, hazel eyes and dark brown hair and during his time in the army he travelled far and wide, some places mentioned in his record are Poona in India, (where he had been in trouble for not obeying an order and being drunk and disorderly) Alexandria in Egypt, Malta and of course France.  In 1912, presumably when at home on leave, he was arrested in Ware, once again, for being drunk and disorderly and he paid for this behaviour with a three month sentence of hard labour in St Albans Gaol. Perhaps the most amusing incident in his record happened in Malta in 1913, the charge being “Not stopping playing cricket in the Barrack room when ordered”.  We also know from this service record that Edward was hospitalised on two occasions once with jaundice, and the other after being wounded by shrapnel in late July 1917 in the left arm and side. He remained in England during his recovery period but was sent back to France 10th December 1917 never to return.

The 5th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment was a Pioneer Battalion – they were Jack of all trades, they built roads, dug trenches, acted as stretcher bearers, but were also required to fight.  Given his date of death and information from the Commonwealth War Graves website below, it is probable that Edward died during the German Spring Offensive which started on 21st March 1918 when they had reinforcements from the Eastern Front to try for the last time to break the deadlock.  There were some local attacks near Albert which were repulsed.  The Pozieres Memorial information tells us that this place of burial and commemoration “relates to the period of crises in March and April when the Allied 5th Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8th August 1918”.

A cutting from the Herts & Essex Observer dated 29th March 1919 gives a little detail about the Military Medal he had been awarded, but was destined never to receive in person:

"MILITARY MEDAL  --  At a parade of the 53rd Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment, in the Market Square at St Albans, Mr Albert Swallow, of Ware, was publicly awarded the Military Medal on behalf of his brother, the late Private E. Swallow, Northants Regiment by Lieut. Colonel Purnell, officer commanding the 53rd Queen’s.  The official record of the award was:  “In France, in 1915, whilst acting as stretcher bearer, Private E Swallow gallantly rescued his officer from barbed wire under very heavy shell fire.”"

Additional Information

Edward is also commemorated on the family headstone in Standon (St. Mary) Churchyard. His part of the inscription reads:

Acknowledgments

Malcolm Lennox, Di Vanderson, Jonty Wild