Jump to content
Free downloads from TNA ×
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

T. Lieut Victor Laurence Edwards, RNVR


daggers

Recommended Posts

This man is named in the IWM's Lives of the First World War where it states that he had been acting vice-consul in Rostov-on-Don before the war, was commissioned in RNVR in 1916 and volunteered for service with the RNAS Armoured Car Division in Russia.

He died there in 1917 aged 37 and CWGC have a record of his burial in Ukraine, listing his 'ship' as HMS President II.

Can anyone find his name on any war memorial in UK please?

 

D

Edited by daggers
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, daggers said:

Can anyone find his name on any war memorial in UK please?

He is remembered by Wimbledon College: see Boys of the College killed in the First World War here https://www.wimbledoncollege.org.uk/page/?title=Roll+of+Honour+(WWI+%26amp%3B+WWII)%26%23160%3B&pid=190

 

[note that the CWGC certificate linked to, gives his middle name with a 'w' (not a 'u')]

Edited by michaeldr
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for the link.  Google had led me to a page showing only the CWGC  piece, but your deeper probe confirms his status as an old boy of Wimbledon College.

Do you know if all RNVR casualties are on an official memorial?

The spelling of his second name varies according to source!

Thanks again for your interest.

Daggers

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No separate RNVR memorial to the best of my knowledge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

57 minutes ago, michaeldr said:

I expect that these are for the same man; the armoured cars were originally part of the RNAS

For some reason I hadn't realised that - useful to know! Thanks.

sJ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Does anyone have any further information on Victor Edwards as I'm trying to find out more for my Nan (she's 92 hence the urgency, and Victor was her uncle) You might also be interested to know his brothers were Cdr Patrick Harrington Edwards DSO and Trevor Louis Edwards. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I started this thread after discovering that V.L. Edwards married a distant cousin and I was curious to find more about his service.  He was born about 1880 and was at Wimbledon College with a brother Sydney from 1892 when it opened.  In 1912 he was married in Russia, occupation ship broker.

So far I have limited details of his service in the RNVR/RNAS, but he died in Ukraine in 1917 and was buried there.  The War Graves Commission record his burial at a Roman Catholic cemetery and I found this from their site:


'In memory of Lieutenant Victor Lawrence Edwards, RNVR, British Naval Armoured Division.  A good soldier and a gallant comrade who died aged 37 years from exposure during the retreat on August 21st 1917 at Proskurov [?].
This stone is raised by his brother officers.  Fear God and fear naught.'

 

There is a probate record for him.

Apart from the reference to his brother Sydney, which came from the school, I have not explored any of his family details.

I hope this helps.

Daggers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have come across some of the RNAS Armoured Cars officers having a basic service record set up by the RAF administration in AIR 76, so a search of that dataset would be worth considering.

His brother Patrick, who was at Zeebrugge, has such a record in AIR 76. Prior to the raid, he was given the "sedentary" position at an RNAS air base, to assist his recovery from wounds.The service record did not state much, but the monthly Navy Lists recorded that he was at RNAS Kingsnorth Airship Station up to December 1917. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The service record reference is AIR 76/148/7 His name is spelled as Edwards, Victor Lawrence

 

This can either be purchased via The National Archives, or via FindMyPast.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Keith_history_buff said:

This can either be purchased via The National Archives, or via FindMyPast.

Not worth the effort. In their attempt to sweep up every possible naval officer into the maw of the RAF, they have granted this officer the rank of Captain RAF with seniority of 1 April 1918, he having died the previous year. There is nothing in these AIR 76 records of any value.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

Hey! I'm Andrey, from Khmelnitsky, Ukraine.
Today my family and I were visiting a memorial of a WW2 near my home. We were walking through the old catholic cementary and we found a grave of Victor Laurence Edwards. It's really rare to find a grave like this because there are mostly polish and ukrainian graves around.

I've made a photo and uploaded it here https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/125402495/victor-lawrence-edwards

 

spacer.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you! So good to see he is remembered with flowers :poppy:

seaJane

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
On 10/04/2019 at 04:34, Keith_history_buff said:

I have come across some of the RNAS Armoured Cars officers having a basic service record set up by the RAF administration in AIR 76, so a search of that dataset would be worth considering.

His brother Patrick, who was at Zeebrugge, has such a record in AIR 76. Prior to the raid, he was given the "sedentary" position at an RNAS air base, to assist his recovery from wounds.The service record did not state much, but the monthly Navy Lists recorded that he was at RNAS Kingsnorth Airship Station up to December 1917. 

 

 

Hi, with huge interest l read about my grandfather Victor Edwards, l stirred things up a bit to get his grave respectfully restored a couple of years back...( which it is now)... in the interim l managed to get a kind local lady to put some wooden tulips on his grave ( the other half of the same bunch l put on his son's grave in England) . I never saw a picture of them, so it did please me. Victor left a widow Margery and a son Patrick of three years old when he died (my father) . He was a relative of George Edwardes of gaiety fame and Peter Ustinov . His widow never remarried, his name was on the war memorial at Golders Green. He was a massive loss to our family and will never be forgotten .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
23 hours ago, KizmeRD said:

What a splendid photo, thanks for posting.

MB

No worries, as you seemed to appreciate it I figured I would include 2 of his brothers as well.

Trevor:

image.jpeg.e17c8e6facefea2dded96257322070be.jpeg

Patrick:

image.jpeg.aadecec6aa4bb92d8ed847aad016846b.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, no wonder Patrick was known as the ‘one-eyed bearded warrior’ - certainly makes a memorable impression once you see his photo.

As I understand it, he received a MiD from the Zeebrugge Raid and went on to earn his DSO (and bar) in Northern Russia.

Thanks again for posting the images of all three brothers.

MB

 

 

Edited by KizmeRD
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Am I missing somehting? Captain Trevor Louis EDWARDS was an RMLI officer and the image , above, marked "Trevor:" shows, I believe, an RNVR officer. What have I got wrong? That said, marvelous images.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, horatio2 said:

Am I missing somehting? Captain Trevor Louis EDWARDS was an RMLI officer and the image , above, marked "Trevor:" shows, I believe, an RNVR officer. What have I got wrong? That said, marvelous images.

I think you are right. Rereading the notes it's not actually clear who it is but the only logical conclusion is that it may have been Patrick when he first signed on based on cap badge. Extract below shows where each of the Edwards brothers obtained their initial commissions. 

image.png.0ddd2922e885bb997e8bab8a40c46ed9.png

Below seated picture is marked as Trevor and the other one below is marked as potential Trevor but unsure. 

image.jpeg.c1c21062f0f4801f764086d53e03f583.jpegimage.jpeg.e9effb964c37e4a0c771aac1b0d0b721.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...