Private 8851 Edward Padmore

Killed in Action on Thursday, 4th March 1915, age 19.
Commemorated on Panel 17 and 18 of Le Touret Memorial, Pas De Calais, France.

1st Bn., Worcestershire Regiment. 24th Brigade of 8th Division.

Son of Cornelius Padmore, of 1, Walton St., Tipton, Staffs.
Born: Tipton, Enlisted: West Bromwich, Resident: Tipton.

First landed France & Flanders, 5th November 1914.
Medal entitlement: 1914 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Soldier's Papers at National Archives did not survive.

Not commemorated on any Tipton memorial.
Commemorated here because identified as Tipton on 'Soldiers Died in the Great War'.

Link to Commonwealth War Graves Site: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1560217/

Genealogical Data

1901 Census
3 Court 6 House, Wood Street, Tipton, Staffs.
Cornelius Padmore (35, Chain Maker, born Dudley), his wife Susannah (36, born Tipton), and their 5 children: Joseph (7, born Tipton), Edward (5, born Tipton), Sophia (4, born Tipton), Thomas (2, born Tipton), Elizabeth (2 months, born Tipton).

1911 Census
3 Walton Street, Tipton, Staffs.
Cornelius Padmore (45, Chain Maker, born Dudley), his wife Susannah (46, born Tipton), and their 8 surviving children of 10: Joseph (17, Coal Miner, born Tipton), Edward (15, Labourer, born Tipton), Sophia (14, born Tipton), Thomas (12, School, born Tipton), Elizabeth (10, School, born Tipton), James (8, School, born Tipton), George (4, born Tipton), and Annie (1, born Tipton).

Personal Data

According to family legend, Edward Padmore had been unhappy at work and had joined the 1st Worcesters before August 1914. At the outbreak of war, the 1st Worcesters were stationed in Egypt; they were recalled, and landed in Liverpool on 16th October. They were attached to 24th Brigade in 8th Division, and landed in Le Havre on 5th/6th November 1914.

Action resulting in his death

The 1st Worcesters arrived in the Neuve Chapelle area, where the line had stabilised after fierce fighting in October. The Germans still bombarded the lines with regularity and ferocity, and the Worcesters suffered from the cold after the extremes of Egypt. They remained in the Neuve Chapelle area for the winter of 1914-1915, suffering from extreme cold and muddy conditions. The Worcesters had 40 men killed in the area by the end of 1914, and 100 men by the commencement of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle on the 10th March 1915.

The first few days of March saw the 1st Worcesters still in trenches in front of Neuve Chapelle. No specific actions were recorded in Stacke's 'History of the Worcesters' on the 4th March, but still on that day 4 men of the 1st Worcesters were killed. It is likely that this was from artillery fire. Edward Padmore was one of these 4 men. He has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial.

Newspaper Cuttings

Tipton Herald 24th April 1915
ANOTHER TIPTON HERO.
The death of another Tipton soldier at the front is reported. It is that of Private Edward Padmore, of the 1st Worcesters, whose parents reside at 1 Walton Street (near the Park), Tipton, and who was killed in action.
Padmore was only 19 years of age, and before joining the Army, a year ago, was a chain striker. He was in the whole of the engagements from Mons, and on one occasion his colleagues in a trench were all killed, he being the only one to come out of the fight unscathed. He has a brother in Kitchener's Army.