Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE WILLIAM ALBERT EDWARDS MM 11/923. Born in 1883, William was the eldest of two sons to William and Adelaide Edwards. A Dock Labourer before the war, he lived with his Grandfather at 2 Union Place, English Street, Hull. William enlisted at City Hall on 10th September 1914 joining the 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Tradesmen’, 2nd Hull Pals. He was docked pay for a 10-day period of absence in the first half of August 1915 as the battalion trained prior to posting overseas. After serving in Egypt, the Pals arrived in France on March 8th 1916 and life in the trenches took its toll. William was moved out of the line with shellshock on 8th April, though he recovered enough to be sent back for more. He was wounded in the back, head and chest on 1st September 1916 and was evacuated from the front line and taken to 33rd Casualty Clearing Station at Bethune where he survived for another week in pain we cannot begin to imagine. William died of wounds on 7th September and is buried at Bethune Town Cemetery; he was 33 years old.
