Edward Brown

War Service

On 10th November 1914 Edward Brown joined the Canadian Army, enlisting at Lloydminister. Given the rank of Private and the service number 81105, he initially joined the 32nd Battalion of the Canadian Infantry. In March 1915 Private Edward Brown left Canada, bound for Europe and the western front. Here he joined the 8th Battalion, Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regiment) who had recently been in action at St Julian in the Ypres Salient.
After some re-organisation at Bailleul, the 1st Canadian Division moved into the line to replace the 58th French Division on the right of the British Line for the Artois Offensive.
The Battle of Festubert commenced during the night of 15th/16th May 1915, with some success. The 2nd Canadian Brigade took over the line, to the right of the 3rd Canadian Brigade, on the night of 18th/19th May. At 20.30 hrs on the 20th May the two Canadian Brigades commenced their attack, with the 2nd Brigade ordered to seize a point at the junction of the old and new German lines. The 2nd Brigade, which had been issued with inaccurate maps, succeeded in clearing part of the enemy communication trench, but then came under intense machine gun fire. The 3rd Canadian Brigade, on the right, successfully gained 400 yards of enemy trench, but was forced to withdraw the following morning after being subjected to heavy artillery bombardments.
Private Edward Brown was seriously wounded on the night of 20th/21st May and taken to the Field Ambulance unit, based at the village of Hinges, 5 km from Bethune. On 23rd May 1915, Edward Brown died from his wounds and was buried in the Hinges Military Cemetery. The cemetery now contains 105 burials, of which 20 are unidentified.

Family Life

Edward Brown was born on 3rd August 1888, the third son of George Edward Brown and his wife Louisa, formerly Horner. At this time the family was living at Kexborough Road, Darton and his father was employed as a bookkeeper at a nearby colliery. His parents married on 25th December 1880 at St Mary Magdalene Church, Outwood. His mother was the daughter of Richard Horner, a stonemason of Outwood.
Edward Brown was educated at St Mary’s Church School, Barnsley and Darton Grammar School. However on 30th March 1903 the Brown family sailed to Canada, leaving Liverpool on the SS Manitoba, with the Barr party of Colonists. The Barr Colonists were a group of British immigrants who went to Canada specifically to settle in Saskatchewan. This was part of a government programme to settle the lands of Saskatchewan and Manitoba with British only residents. On arrival at St John, New Brunswick, the party travelled by train, wagon and on foot to the designated land near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. Here they established the township of Lloydminister.

Hinges Military Cemetery