Name
Edward Wynne Chapman
24 May 1887
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
17/11/1914
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
3rd (Prince of Wales’s Own) Dragoon Guards
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Mentioned in Despatches
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES TOWN CEMETERY
E.1.1
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
HE LEAVES A WHITE UNBROKEN GLORY A GATHERED RADIANCE A SHINING PEACE
UK & Other Memorials
Abbots Langley Village Memorial, Church of the Ascension (The Tin Church), Bedmond
Biography
Edward Wynne was born on 24 May 1887 at Springbank, Canterbury,New Zealand the son of Edward and Mary Chapman. He came to England in 1908 as Lieutenant, 2nd Lieutenant, North Canterbury Mounted Rifles Regiment and was attached to the 3rd Dragoon Guards (Prince of Wales Own). He was commissioned into the Dragoon Guards becoming Second Lieutenant in May 1911 and Lieutenant in November 1911. He went to Egypt in 1912, where the regiment was stationed at Abbasiyeh, Cairo. Edward Wynne Chapman’s association with Abbots Langley was through marriage to Elvira Maude Henderson on 16 Jul 1912. Elivra was the daughter of Harry Henderson, a Stock Broker, who lived at Serge Hill, Bedmond with his wife and family. A daughter was born on 15 march 1915.
When War broke out in 1914 he returned to England, and arrived at Liverpool on 18th October. He was sent to Belgium on 31st October 1914 and died at Ypres on 17th November of wounds He sustained the previous day. He was posthumously mentioned in Sir John French’s despatch of 17 Feb 1915 for conspicuous bravery.
His death was recorded in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine in December 1914 - “Lieutenant Edward Wynne Chapman was killed in action at Ypres. A little over two years we were sincerely offering him our congratulations and good wishes on his marriage to Miss Maude Henderson - now Mrs Chapman may feel assured that she has the prayers and sympathy of all of us. May they rest in Peace and may Light perpetual shine upon them”.
A tribute was placed in the New Zealand Hertford Journal - ”During his stay in this neighbourhood he had endeared himself to all who met him. He was of a particularly lovable disposition, and altogether a most attractive personality. Tall, handsome, straightforward in speech and behaviour, a fearless cross-country rider and distinguished in all military sports, he was the beau-ideal of a young British cavalry officer. He fell fighting on November 17th, and his name and those of two other officers were sent to Headquarters for conspicuous bravery. Lieutenant Chapman was buried in Ypres Cemetery side by side with two officers of his regiment. The burial was conducted amidst most impressive surroundings – English and German guns firing without cessation, and shells falling within a few hundred yards – a truly glorious end for a soldier.”
The Abbots Langley Parish Magazine of July 1916 added: “We are glad and count it an honour to have in the Church the beautiful little Brass which has been erected to the memory of Lieutenant Wynne Chapman. The inscription is as follows ‘In loving memory of Edward Wynne Chapman, Lieut. 3rd (Prince of Wales') Dragoon Guards, died of wounds received in Action at Ypres, November 17th, 1914, aged 27. Erected by his wife’”.
Edward was commemorated on the Abbots Langley and Bedmond War Memorials and was also included on the War Memorial of Netherton Church, Glenshee, near Blairgowrie in Scotland, close to where the Henderson family used a holiday property which he and his young wife would have visited.
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
