b. 07/05/1855 Hardingham, Norfolk. d. 17/09/1912 Hardingham, Norfolk.
William Mordaunt Marsh Edwards (1855-1912) was born on 7th May 1855 at Hardingham Hall, Norfolk, son of William Henry Bartholomew Edwards, and Caroline Marsh, of Gaynes Park, Epping, Essex. Due to his wealthy upbringing, he was educated privately at Rottingdean, at Eton, and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was gazetted as a Sub Lieutenant on 22nd March 1876, but was not attached to a regiment. The following year, he joined the 74th Highlanders.
William M M Edwards VC
He served in the Straits Settlements and Hong Kong, and in Egypt in 1882. For his services in the Anglo-Egyptian War, he received the Tel-el-Kebir Medal and clasp, the Medjidie, and the Victoria Cross (London Gazette, 13th February 1883).
On 13th September 1882, at Tel-el-Kebir, Lieutenant Edwards led a party of the Highland Light Infantry to storm a redoubt. He was ahead of his party, and rushed alone into the battery and killed the artillery officer in charge. He was then knocked down by a gunner with a rammer and was in dire trouble, when rescued by the timely arrival of three men of his regiment.
He was presented with his medal just 11 days after his gazetting on 24th February 1883 at Windsor Castle, by Queen Victoria. He served in India from 1884 to 1887, and was for five years Adjutant of the 3rd Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry. On 1st November 1889, he married Alice, 3rd daughter of General Edward Nugent Norton, Indian Staff Corps at Peshawar, India. They had a son called Bartholomew Mordaunt Marsham in 1891. He retired from the Army in 1896. In 1899 he was appointed to H.M. Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms.
He died at Hardingham Hall on 17th September 1912, aged 57, and was buried in St George’s Churchyard, Hardingham. His medals are not publicly held, though replicas are displayed at the Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum, Glasgow, Scotland. His original medals were acquired privately by Michael Ashcroft in 2023 and will be displayed in the Ashcroft Gallery, Imperial War Museum, London.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: LORD ASHCROFT COLLECTION, IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM, LONDON.
BURIAL PLACE: ST GEORGES CHURCHYARD, HARDINGHAM, NORFOLK.
Acknowledgement:
Thomas Stewart – Replica Medal Group on display at the Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum, Glasgow, Scotland and the image of the medal group at the Imperial War Museum.