EDWIN JAMES BALDRY
Images and information courtesy of Alan Hewer
Born: 14th November 1890, at 84, Norwich Road, Ipswich.
Baptised on the 18th March 1891, at St. Matthew’s Church, Ipswich – family home at 84, Norwich Road, Ipswich.
Died: 24th March 1918; age: 28; KiA.
Suffolk Chronicle – Friday, 14th June 1918 – Second Lieutenant Edwin J. Baldry, son of Mrs. Christina Finch, of Norwich Road, Ipswich, twice reported killed on the 24th March, is now reported wounded and missing.
Occupation: Ransomes Sims & Jefferies, Orwell Works, Ipswich.
Date of Entry Therein – 24th August 1915 – Balkans.
Commission – North Staffordshire Regiment – 24th April 1917.
Rank: Second Lieutenant.
Regiment: North Staffordshire ‘Prince of Wales’ Regiment, 1st Battalion.
Formerly 2151 Acting Sergeant, Royal Army Medical Corps.
Medals Awarded: Victory, British War & 1915 Star.
Memorial Reference;
Panel 67 & 68.
France.
Relatives Notified & Address: Husband of Mrs. E. J. Baldry, of 497, Ferndale Road, Swindon.
CENSUS
1891 84, Norwich Road, Ipswich.
Edwin was 4 months old and living with his parents & sister.
James William Baldry, 26, a Tobacconist & Assurance Agent, born St. Pancras, London.
Christina Jane Baldry (nee Morris), 33, born Poplar, Middlesex.
Lilian Mary Baldry, 2, born Ipswich.
1901 84, Norwich Road, Ipswich.
Edwin was 10 years old and living with his mother, sister & stepfather.
Walter Gibbon Finch, 55, a Carpenter & Joiner, born St. Leonard’s, Colchester, Essex.
Christina Jane Finch, 43, a Tobacconist – own account.
Lilian, 12.
1911 84, Norwich Road, Ipswich.
Edwin was 20 years old, a Clerk for an Agricultural Implement Firm. He was living with his mother & stepfather.
Walter, 66, a Tobacconist & Newsagent – own account.
Christina, 53, Assisting in Business.
Edwin’s mother, Christina Baldry, divorced his father, James William Baldry, in 1900, after he left the family home on 2nd October 1895. Edwin, Lilian and Christina heard nothing from James again. After the separation, James Baldry returned to London. At the time of the divorce, James was a bus driver in London, and lived at 51, Vauxhall Bridge Road, London. James did not defend the divorce proceedings.
Edwin’s father, James William Baldry, died on Tuesday, 23rd July 1901, at the East Suffolk and Ipswich Hospital after he was found in a dying condition on the towing-path of the River Gipping, near Handford Bridge on Monday.
At an inquest held at the Hospital, the Borough Coroner was told that James had arrived in Ipswich on Friday, 19th July and had lodged in Princes Street, and had given his name as “Williams.” Edwin’s mother, Mrs. Christina Finch, of 84, Norwich Road, Ipswich, was called to attend the inquest. Christina identified the body as that of her former husband, James William Baldry. Suffolk Chronicle – Friday, 26th July 1901
Soldiers’ Effects to Dorothy Mabel Baldry – widow.
Edwin is also remembered on the Orwell Works, Ransomes Sims & Jefferies war memorial, Ipswich. Now sited at The Museum of East Anglian Life, Stowmarket, Suffolk.
On Thursday, 8th November 1917, at St. Mary’s Church, Rodbourne Cheney, Wiltshire, by the Reverend Ernest Robert Knapp, Second Lieutenant Edwin married Dorothy Mabel Hewer, born March 1892, Aldershot, Hampshire – eldest daughter of Ernest George Hewer, a tailor for a clothing factory, and Sarah Ellen Hewer (nee Hutt), of 497, Ferndale Road, Swindon.
Mabel was a nurse at Greylingwell Hospital, Chichester, during the war.
Mabel is standing on the left.
3 Comments
Edwin James Baldry was my uncle. If you look on my website listed below you can see a picture of him on his wedding day. Thank you for finding all this information on him – far more than I knew. His wife Mabel was a nurse at Greylingwell Hospital, Chichester during the War.
My husband John Baldry is looking into his ancestors. He has to date gone back to 1500’s. Thank for putting all this info on here. His relatives trace back to Ipswich. Very interesting. If you want to contact him his email is below.
This is a relative of mine! I carried a torch in the Felixstowe parade and was thinking of all our family members who were in the war some survived and some sadly died.