Name
Norman Edmends
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Machine Gun Corps
51st
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
Norman Edmends (or Edmunds as his name is spelt in some of the records) was born in the winter of 1892. He was one of eight children (five boys and three girls) born to George and Mary Edmends. In 1901 the family lived at Shafford Bottom, Apsley End, Abbots Langley, where George worked as a Blacksmith, and six of the children worked at a local Paper Factory.
Norman married Kate Jackson on 10th March 1913, and the couple had two children in the next three years. Sidney George was born on 31st March 1913 and Stanley Thomas on 6th August 1916. Both children were born at Abbots Langley.
Norman was conscripted in 1916 and called for service on 2nd October. The family was living at the High Street in Abbots Langley at the time, and Norman gave his occupation as Cowman. On 5th October he was posted to the 3rd Bedfordshire’s, and on 27th December was transferred to the Machine Gun Corps and was sent for training to Belton Castle, near Grantham in Lincolnshire. His Disciplinary Record noted that on 9th February 1917 he was Confined to Barracks for three days for being on unshaven on parade and with long hair after being told to get it cut.
On 25th April 1917 he was sent to France with the 189th Machine Gun Company (MGC), and on 18th January 1918 was posted to the 154th MGC. On 24th July 1918 he was wounded receiving gun-shot wounds to the right knee. He arrived back in England on 1st August, and from 6th to 14th September was treated at the Devonport Discharge Military Hospital. He was discharged to High Street Abbots Langley on 14th September 1918, as “No longer fit for War Service” and with a good character reference.
The Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour recorded that Norman had been Discharged Disabled from the Machine Gun Corps in the October 1918 edition. On 24th October 1918 he was awarded a Disability Pension of 8 shillings and three pence per week, payable from 15th September 1918 for 52 weeks before being reviewed.
Norman survived the War, as did his cousin William Edmends, and his brother in law William Hill, who had married his sister Annie in 1910.
Additional Information
Formerly, 82836 3rd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment & Discharged Disabled
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
