Current Information:

Age-20

Enlisted-Bromley

Etaples Military Cemetery, France

At the outbreak of war in 1914 there were two machine guns to each battalion which was far from adequate and substantially fewer than the German Army. The need for more of these weapons and the specialised training they required led to the establishment of the Machine Gun Corps in the autumn of 1915 with each infantry brigade being furnished with their own machine gun company, usually taking the same number as the brigade. These companies were equipped with the new Vickers machine gun whilst the individual infantry battalions were supplied with the lighter, hand-held Lewis guns. Machine Gun Battalions were formed in the Divisions in the early months of 1918, by bringing together the four MGC Companies into a single command structure with the Battalions taking the number of their Division.

Edward Ward died from wounds on 14th September, 1917, after having been sent to a base hospital on the coast, but as yet there is no information as to when and where he was wounded. The 72nd Company of the Machine Gun Corps were part of 24th Division that had been in action during the Third Battle of Ypres in the summer and autumn of 1917.